Chelsea

Chelsea

Premier League • England

Chelsea still want to sell forward this week after transfer collapse, as second star reveals exit ambitions

Chelsea are desperate to offload David Datro Fofana

Chelsea are desperate to offload David Datro Fofana

Chelsea striker David Datro Fofana saw a move to Greek side AEK Athens collapse on Wednesday and the Blues are still desperate to offload him, per reports.

Chelsea and AEK had reportedly agreed a loan deal with an option to buy set at £20m before the Greek transfer window’s deadline on Wednesday night but the move fell through.

Complications arose at the eleventh hour. 90min report that AEK may have ‘walked back’ on their initial verbal agreement with Chelsea.

It’s Enzo Maresca’s side haven’t given up on finding a buyer for Fofana this summer and with the transfer window still open in Turkey until Friday, that could be his destination.

Fofana spent the 2023/24 season on loan with two different clubs. He initially joined Union Berlin, where he scored only two goals in 27 appearances.

A loan to Burnley followed, and he managed four goals in 15 matches at Turf Moor, but couldn’t save the Lancashire side from relegation.

Maresca seems to have no intention of giving Fofana an opportunity in the first team and time is running out for him to secure an exit from Stamford Bridge.

Sources close to Fofana have revealed to TEAMtalk that there is yet to be any concrete enquiries for him from Turkey, but that could change before Friday’s deadline.

Chelsea are determined to offload out-of-favour striker

Fofana was one of several members of Chelsea’s so-called ‘bomb squad’ – players they were willing to sell so they could balance the books after another summer of big spending.

The Blues managed to generate £147m from player sales this summer – the most of any club in Europe. They parted ways with Conor Gallagher, Romelu Lukaku, Ian Maatsen, Omari Hutchinson and seven others to try and offset the £220m spent on new additions.

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Selling Fofana would help Chelsea in this regard but whether any Turkish club will match his £20m price tag still remains to be seen.

Sources informed TEAMtalk that Everton had held talks with Chelsea regarding a potential move for Fofana this summer.

We understand that a swap deal involving Dominic Calvert-Lewin and a loan for Fofana was spoken about, but the Toffees ultimately decided not to pursue the youngster.

Everton ultimately signed Armando Broja from Chelsea on a season-long loan instead. They have the option to buy the Albanian for £30m at the end of the season.

Stuttgart were also ‘very interested’ in signing Fofana a few weeks ago, per our sources, but a move never materialised.

Another Fofana almost left Chelsea this summer

Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana has revealed that he considered leaving Chelsea this summer for his hometown club Marseille this summer, in an interview with Free Foot.

Sources have previously revealed to TEAMtalk that Chelsea were open to selling centre-backs Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile but Maresca believes Fofana can still play a key role for his team.

The £80m defender’s career has stalled since his move to Stamford Bridge, with three separate knee injuries seeing him miss more than 70 games across his first two seasons.

Fofana is finally back to full fitness and has started all three of Chelsea’s Premier League fixtures this season and will hope to get back to the form he showed at the King Power before his serious injury.

Are Chelsea’s striker options good enough?

With David Datro Fofana potentially still leaving Chelsea this summer, or at least unlikely to feature in the first team, it will be interesting to see whether Maresca’s current striker are sufficient to fire the Blues into the top four.

The Blues’ top target for much of the window was Napoli striker Victor Osimhen. Despite them being in talks with the player into the final hours of the transfer deadline, they were ultimately unable to seal a deal.

Chelsea currently have five players who can play through the middle as a striker – Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku, Joao Felix, Deivid Washington and Marc Guiu.

Nkunku is the most prolific forward from the four, having scored 86 goals at club level during his time at Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig and Chelsea.

The France international is also the only player on this list that has broken the 30-goal barrier for a season as he netted 35 goals in all competitions in the 2021/22 campaign.

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Felix follows closely behind with 69 goals at club level, although 20 of those goals came during his debut season at Benfica in 2018/19.

The Portugal international hasn’t scored more than 10 goals in all competitions in any of the five full seasons that have followed.

Jackson had just 13 first-team goals to his name when he joined Chelsea from Villarreal in a £31.8million deal in the summer of 2023.

The 23-year-old striker has since added another 19 goals to his tally, and he was Chelsea’s second-top goalscorer in the 2023/24 season.

While his raw potential is clear, he isn’t a ruthless goalscorer and he missed a total of 24 big chances in his debut Premier League campaign.

Deivid Washington scored two first-team goals for Santos before joining Chelsea in a £17.1million deal in 2023 and has impressed at Under-21 level, but the 19-year-old is yet to score for the Blues.

Guiu, 18, is the youngest option for Chelsea and he is one of the most highly-rated prospects in European football.

But the Barcelona academy graduate is still adapting to first-team football and has netted just two goals at senior level.

Looking at their current options, Chelsea may look to sign another striker in January to help their hopes of Champions League qualification.