Enzo Maresca has reiterated his fear that Wesley Fofana could miss the rest of Chelsea’s season - but says he hopes the centre-back will prove him wrong.
Maresca and Fofana were involved in a public disagreement over the timeframe put on the latter’s absence after he suffered a serious hamstring injury against Aston Villa last month.
Maresca told a press conference that the France international would be out for several months and could even miss the rest of the campaign, but Fofana later insisted in a message on social media that he could be back within six weeks.
“We speak the same language in terms of how we communicate between each other in English and in French, so it has been quite clear,” Maresca said, ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie against Morecambe.
“I just told you what the medical staff said to me, that it’s around 12-16 weeks. Wes is thinking that he can recover earlier than that. We are all happy if Wes is back as soon as possible. So, there’s no problem.”
Fofana’s injury has coincided with a shorter-term absence for Benoit Badiashile, leaving Chelsea to consider whether to sign a new centre-back this month.
The Blues are interested in Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi, but a deal in January is viewed as unlikely, despite the Englishman having only 18 months left to run on his contract.
Chelsea also have a recall option on Trevoh Chalobah’s loan at Palace, while Aaron Anselmino has been recalled from Boca Juniors, though the teenager is not ready to be involved against Morecambe this weekend.
