Capital Football snagged David Fofana for an exclusive chat after Burnley’s relegation yesterday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Chelsea loanee wasn’t able to help keep the Clarets up, but he did pretty well in 6 months there, and now expects to come back to Chelsea for preseason, with an uncertain future ahead.
“I haven’t thought about [returning to Chelsea] yet. I think I’ll go back and why not do the pre-season with Chelsea? [In January], I wanted to stay but some things happened… but for sure I have nothing to envy Nicolas Jackson, who is [also] my friend.”
In January it did indeed seem like he would be staying with Broja on the way out – but instead both ended up loaned out. It was a risk which paid off, as Nicolas Jackson was able to play the rest of the campaign without injury or suspension. But come the summer we will have to start making serious decisions about the Ivorian’s future.
We bought him for €12m and his value is now just €10m according to Transfermarkt, despite his Premier League goals.
A chance to replace Armando Broja as Jackson’s reserve
After a shocking first half of the season at Union Berlin where he barely played, Fofana made a solid impression in his early games at Burnley, helping spark their efforts to battle the drop which ultimately fizzled out in the last month.
He surely showed enough in those games to earn himself another useful Premier League loan next season. His dream of coming back to Chelsea to support Jackson are hardly unrealistic either, although it will all depend on how things go in the market this summer.
It’s by no means impossible that the sporting directors think Fofana is ready to be second choice behind Jackson next year, allowing them to focus their spending on other areas of need and clearing the way for Broja’s sale.