Chelsea might regret not sending January signing David Datro Fofana on loan when they had the opportunity as the young striker seems no longer in Graham Potter’s plan this season.
When the 20-year-old joined Chelsea from Norwegian side Molde two months ago, the earlier expectations were that he would spend the second half of the season on loan.
Surprisingly, Chelsea decided to keep him in the squad, instead, and he even made his Chelsea debut not long after.
At the time, the Blues were in desperate need of a goalscorer, so it is hard to blame Potter for trying every option he had.
After two appearances as a substitute, Fofana earned his first start at Chelsea against Southampton in February but only lasted on the pitch for 45 minutes.
It was his last first-team involvement so far.
He did not make the squad for the last four Premier League matches in addition to not being in the team’s Champions League squad.
Instead, Fofana has played with the development squad in their last two Premier League 2 matches, Liverpool and Everton U21s, in which he scored one goal.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with playing with the academy setup — and at his age, Fofana actually fits in nicely with the group, but a loan move would likely be more beneficial to his development since he is already used to playing senior football.
Chelsea still need a backup for Kai Havertz, who is currently their first-choice number nine, but it remains unclear whether Potter still trusts either Fofana or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to be in the starting line-up.
In the wins over Borussia Dortmund and Leicester City, Raheem Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk actually operated as a false nine in the respective match, while Havertz played a deeper wide number 10 role.
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