Chelsea injuries pose awkward summer transfer questions | OneFootball

Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia are among Chelsea’s best players on their day... but those days are rare

It was Mikel Arteta who pointed out the layer of complexity which Arsenal’s injury crisis could add to their transfer business this summer.

The Gunners are expected to be particularly busy in the window as they try to bridge the frustrating gap between second and first in the Premier League. But Arteta suggested on Friday that having so many players - Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Jesus - undergoing surgery in the second half of this season will make it difficult to asses exactly what his squad needs ahead of the new season and where it needs strengthening most.

Enzo Maresca is yet to discuss Chelsea’s summer transfer plans, in part because much will surely depend on whether or not the Blues qualify for the Champions League. Should they fail, who knows whether the Italian is even certain to still be in a job.

There are plenty of moving parts, too, with regards the loan market where Chelsea have a huge number of players surplus to requirements but due to return, as well as the future of Jadon Sancho to resolve. And a decent bit of business already done, with Willian Estevao and Kendry Paez due to arrive.

On the question of injuries, though, the Blues are surely in just as awkward a position as their London rivals.

The absences of Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia for Sunday’s trip to Brentford has cast the unreliability of two key players back into the spotlight. Both suffered muscle injuries in training this week and missed the victory over Tottenham on Thursday night. Fofana is now expected to miss the rest of the season.

“We don't know yet,” Maresca said when asked for a timeframe on the injury-prone pair’s latest setbacks. “We are waiting for both Romeo looks a little bit better injury compared to Wes, in terms of probably Romeo can be back earlier than Wes.”

At 24 and 21, respectively, Fofana and Lavia have been earmarked as key parts of Chelsea’s long-term project, with their squad supposed to now be taking shape after several windows of major turnover. Both, when fit, have been key players for Maresca this season, with Fofana their standout defender and Lavia every bit as impressive as Moises Caicedo in their outings as a midfield pair.

Fofana, though, has managed only two league starts after three months out with a hamstring injury before picking up a new issue which required surgery, while Lavia has seen his season heavily disrupted by various setbacks since mid-December.

Since signing for the Blues in the summer of 2023, the midfielder has played just 628 minutes of football, including just one appearance amid hamstring and knee trouble last season. Fofana missed the entirety of the campaign with a torn ACL and has a serious leg break on his injury CV from his time at Leicester.

It is impossible to think those serious injuries are not playing some part in both players’ struggles now, and the question for Chelsea to answer is how likely they are to continue to do so. It is not as if the Blues have not been cautious this season, leaving both players out of their European squad all term.

So can they afford to factor two fit and firing players into their plans for next season, hoping that they will reap the rewards of carefully planned comebacks as - touch wood - is finally happening with Reece James? Or must they go into the market again, knowing that to find players of Lavia and Fofana’s quality will certainly not come cheap?