Chelsea have confirmed that defender Wesley Fofana has undergone anterior cruciate ligament surgery which is set to rule him out for several months.
The 22-year-old endured an injury-hit debut campaign with the West Londoners in 2022-23 following his £70m transfer from Leicester City last summer.
Indeed, Fofana was sidelined for over four months with a knee injury last season and was reduced to just 12 Premier League starts.
Fofana had previously broken his leg in August 2021 during his final year at Leicester and made just seven English top-flight appearances.
The France international has now suffered another injury setback ahead of the 2023-24 campaign and Chelsea have confirmed that he will not travel with Mauricio Pochettino's squad on their pre-season tour of the USA after undergoing surgery.
A statement on Chelsea's official website read: "Defender Wesley Fofana has undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.
"The 22-year-old did not travel to America for the club's pre-season tour due to specialist medical assessments, which unfortunately confirmed that an operation would be required.
"Wesley will now begin his recovery and work with the club's medical department at Cobham during his rehabilitation phase."
Fofana is now facing another lengthy spell on the sidelines as the recovery process for an ACL injury that usually takes between six and nine months.
Pochettino is also without injured trio Benoit Badiashile, Armando Broja and Marcus Bettinelli, but Reece James could link up with the first-team squad in America at a later date if he recovers from illness.
According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea will now explore the transfer market for a new central defender as a result of Fofana's latest injury setback.
With Kalidou Koulibaly having joined Al-Hilal this summer, Badiashile, Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill are four centre-back options at Pochettino's disposal, and the new Blues boss is particularly keen to keep hold of the latter amid interest from a number of Premier League clubs.
Chelsea have recently been linked with a potential move for Manchester United's Harry Maguire, who was recently stripped of the captaincy and is facing an uncertain future at Old Trafford, while a swoop for Monaco's Axel Disasi has also been mooted.
The Blues have experienced a huge overhaul of first-team players so far this summer and have generated in excess of £200m from player sales, while attacking trio Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson and Angelo Gabriel have all joined the club on permanent deals.
Chelsea's primary target is midfielder Moises Caicedo and they are understood to have seen an improved bid of £70m rejected by Brighton & Hove Albion. body check tags ::
