Wesley Fofana appeared set for a breakout campaign as he approached the start of his second season at Leicester City, but the 20-year-old center back will instead miss the start of the 2021-22 Premier League season after breaking his leg in a preseason friendly.
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The injury occurred on Wednesday and prompted an apology from Villarreal forward Fer Nino for his tackle which resulted in Fofana’s fractured fibula.“I am writing to publicly apologize, having already done so privately with him. At no time was it my intention to harm him, as unfortunately happened.
“I sincerely hope that he has a speedy recovery and can return to the pitch as soon as possible to continue showing that he is a footballer of the highest level.”
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Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed the broken leg on Thursday and revealed that a full scan is yet to be taken as Fofana must first wait for the swelling in his left ankle to go down.
“The ankle was so swollen, so we had to leave it overnight,” Rodgers said. “He will have another scan today which will give us a clearer indication of how long he is going to be out.”
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“We are definitely light in the area. Filip Benkovic has done really well over the course of the pre-season, Daniel Amartey can also play there and has done well but I don’t think there is any doubt we are light and it is something that we will have to look at.”
Leicester have enough depth to survive a two- or three-month stretch without Fofana, but anything later than early November might force the Foxes to dip their toes back in the transfer market. Fofana was nothing short of fantastic a season ago after arriving from Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne for nearly $50 million.
