If there was one area of the pitch that looked fairly settled for Chelsea going into the new season, amid the chaos of their ruthless clear-out this summer, it was central defence. That was until just before 3pm on Tuesday, as rumours began to swirl about a potentially serious injury to one of their key centre-backs.
With the cat already out of the bag, Chelsea moved swiftly to confirm the worst-case scenario: Wesley Fofana had ruptured his ACL. After undergoing reconstructive surgery, the young Frenchman faces an extended and arduous rehabilitation period, with his season over before it has even begun.
"It’s really sad, really bad news. We feel all so sad. All we can do is help him,' Mauricio Pochettino said. "We know it’s a tough injury but we hope he can be as soon as possible with the team. We need to keep going. The competition is there, in one month we start, it doesn’t wait for anyone and we need to be ready to compete."
As Pochettino alluded to, Chelsea must mitigate for Fofana's devastating injury blow. GOAL runs though their options...