Broken leg shock for Premier League rising star Fofana

Leicester City’s outstanding young French defender Wesley Fofana suffered a broken leg in the friendly win over Villarreal, he has revealed.

The former Saint-Etienne player featured in Wednesday evening’s 3-2 victory over the Europa League champions.

He was forced out of the game after an hour, though, after challenging for the ball with opposition forward Nino.

Now Fofana, 20, faces missing the start of the Premier League season as he prepares for a spell on the sidelines.

After being carried off on a stretcher, Fofana was taken to hospital and posted a late-night bulletin revealing his bad news.

Fofana wrote on Instagram: “It is a bad day today but I am in a tremendous club with a wonderful medical team. I will give you news as a soon as I have a final diagnosis but we already know that I have a fibula fracture. I will come soon and stronger: do not worry.”

Reflecting his positive outlook, he accompanied the message with a smiling picture from his hospital bed.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Wesley Fofana (@lawestt_)

Fofana joined Leicester from Saint-Etienne last October and became a key figure in Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes team, who finished fifth in the 2020-21 Premier League. In May, he was named the club’s young player of the season.

Of all defenders in the English top flight, Fofana was one of just two to attempt at least 50 tackles while also making 50 interceptions and 50 headers clearances last season.

Aston Villa’s Matt Targett was the other to achieve that triple feat.

Among defenders who started at least 20 games, Fofana had the fourth highest tackle success rate, with his percentage of 72.55 bettered only by West Ham’s Craig Dawson, Liverpool’s left-back Andrew Robertson and Newcastle United’s Federico Fernandez.