“It’s really sad” – Mauricio Pochettino breaks silence on Wesley Fofana’s ACL surgery

Mauricio Pochettino has expressed his sadness after Wesley Fofana was ruled out for months following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.

The 22-year-old missed Chelsea’s flight to the United States for their pre-season tour on Monday after being assessed for a knee problem.

And the bad news for Fofana, who has struggled with knee problems since joining Chelsea last summer, came on Tuesday ahead of their first training session in America.

In a club statement, Chelsea confirmed: “Defender Wesley Fofana has undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.

“The 22-year-old did not travel to America for the club’s pre-season tour due to specialist medical assessments, which unfortunately confirmed that an operation would be required.

“Wesley will now begin his recovery and work with the club’s medical department at Cobham during his rehabilitation phase.”

Pochettino, who will now have just four senior centre-backs available in Thiago Silva, Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile and Trevoh Chalobah, was asked about Fofana’s absence and admitted it was a ‘really sad’ day for the club.

He told reporters on Tuesday: “It’s really sad, really bad news. We feel all so sad. All we can do is help him.

“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.”