Poor David Datro Fofana is having a terrible summer, and increasingly it’s looking entirely like the fault of those in charge at Chelsea.
It should have been so simple. He’s a striker of a good age signed for a small fee, with plenty of years left on his contract. He’s scored goals in the Premier League, and would have had plenty of interest from all over Europe.
If he doesn’t fit into Chelsea’s first team plans – and clearly he doesn’t – they’ve had quite literally months to sort out a solution. Whether that’s a loan, a loan with an option, or just a sale.
Yet there we are, into mid-September, and he’s still at Chelsea, training separately from the main group and with not immediate prospects of going anywhere now that a move to AEK Athens fell through.
🚨🔵 Chelsea are still looking for a solution for David Datro Fofana after AEK Athens deal collapsed and Greek market closed.
Chelsea and player’s camp now looking for solutions as he’s out of Maresca’s squad. pic.twitter.com/1ri77rc5D6
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 12, 2024
Another bungled piece of squad management
Fabrizio Romano has just Tweeted that Chelsea are “still looking for a solution” for the Ivorian. But it should never have come to this. Even if AEK played hard ball and derailed an agreement, this shouldn’t be happening in September. The only reason he was ever going to Greece was because their window was still open. It was a last resort to begin with, and a player who clearly wasn’t in our plans for this season shouldn’t still have his future uncertain at this point.
Chelsea failed to sign a striker this summer – once that was the case, wouldn’t it have made more sense to just integrate him into the first team to play in the Conference League? And even if you don’t want to do that, why not just loan him out on unfavourable terms, hope he scores some goals and can be moved on in January or next summer? It’s not ideal, but it’s better than being an outcast for 4 months.
However the ownership situation plays out, surely the directors have to be moved on.
I can’t tell what their strategy has been for the last two, three transfer windows. They’ve let plenty of good opportunities slip, though.