Wesley Fofana tells the story with a smile however on the time his feelings had been completely different. In a quiet nook of Chelsea’s Cobham headquarters, the £75m centre-back is recalling a interval in his early years when it appeared a fledgling profession could be minimize quick.

Aged 14, he had left his household residence in Felix Pyat, a municipality of Marseille’s impoverished third arrondissement, to enrol in Saint-Etienne’s academy some 4 hours’ drive away. He was a gifted and tenacious defender, but in addition uncooked and underprepared.

“It was very difficult because I went to Saint-Etienne, to the academy, and, you know, when you come from Marseille, you don’t know the real life,” Fofana tells Sky Sports.

The transfer, following a profitable trial, felt on the time like an enormous step in direction of fulfilling his dream of turning skilled.

But, coming from novice aspect Air Bel in Marseille, the place he was certainly one of six siblings raised predominantly by his grandparents, it was additionally his first expertise of a structured academy setting. He struggled with the transition.

“For me, it was, ‘My opinion wins every time. If it’s right for me, it’s right for everybody.’ After, I learned. I learned to live with other people, because that’s difficult when you are young and you have one target, and you are in an academy with other players as well.”

Those classes needed to be discovered the onerous manner, the scenario coming to a head when behavioural points at college emerged alongside his issues within the academy itself, forcing the membership to behave.

“Saint-Etienne sacked me,” he says. It was a hammer blow, one which might simply have floored him, however his response to it was decisive.

“I stayed focused,” he continues. “And when you come back to Marseille, back to zero, you realise everything. I realised everything and I trained more, and more, and more.”

After a number of months in limbo, Fofana was requested again by Saint-Etienne. This time, he went in with a special mindset, seizing his second probability and finally forcing his manner into the primary group.

From there, his profession has adopted a steep upward curve, taking him to Leicester after which Chelsea for charges totalling greater than £100m, however he appears to be like again on these early struggles because the making of him.

“For sure, it was a difficult period, but it built the guy I am,” he says.

“It has impacted my life and my football. Nobody gave me a chance on a plate, so, when I play football, I am aggressive. I want to win every contact, every header, every tackle, every duel.

“When I look again, I believe, yeah, it is loopy, as a result of I do know some mates, some individuals, who had the identical trajectory as me and stayed down. So, I’m very blissful.”

‘Chelsea’s season painful for everyone’

Now, on a sunny afternoon within the Surrey countryside, the challenges he overcame in Marseille and Saint-Etienne as a boy enable Fofana to place a chaotic first season at Chelsea in perspective.

“It’s difficult for everybody because you see Chelsea in this position, and for sure everybody is not happy,” he says.

“But it’s football. Some seasons, you are good. Some seasons, you are bad. Everybody is staying focused for next season now, to train more and push more to return to a high level.”

Before that, although, there’s the small matter of ending the present marketing campaign as strongly as attainable, beginning on Sunday towards a Manchester City aspect whose treble-chasing feats bear stark distinction to the struggles of their Eleventh-placed opponents.

“For sure, it’s painful,” says Fofana when requested in regards to the 42-point hole between the 2 sides. “Chelsea is a big club in England and Europe. You see the points behind Man City, or Arsenal, and it’s difficult, because this club is the rival.”

What does he put it all the way down to? “It’s difficult [to explain],” he says. “New [owners] coming, new players coming, new coaches. In the Premier League, every team is strong and you don’t have time. You play in the Champions League as well, so it’s difficult.

“I don’t know exactly why it’s a bad season but, for sure, it’s the players, it’s the club, it’s everybody. It’s not just the coaches coming and going, it’s not just the [owner], it’s not just the new players. It’s everybody. We are the same team. When it’s bad, everybody is bad.”

It has, although, been particularly difficult for Fofana.

The 22-year-old’s ultimate season at Leicester was marred by a leg break suffered in pre-season and, whereas he has proven glimpses of his immense potential at Chelsea, damage has once more held him again.

Having scored Chelsea’s opening aim in a Champions League assembly with AC Milan at Stamford Bridge in October, Fofana suffered a knee downside which he then aggravated in December, the setback protecting him out for an additional two months.

“When you have a big injury, then you come back and you have a little injury again, it’s difficult for the mentality and the body. But I try to give everything for the team and the club.

“Then, after this, you’ve got extra expertise. You know your physique extra and that is good. You know that typically, while you need to push, push, push, simply take heed to your physique and keep calm.”

That outlook is typical of Fofana, a well-liked and gregarious determine on the membership whose potential to radiate positivity could be seen in the best way he jokes round with team-mates Noni Madueke and Armando Broja whereas they conduct separate interviews close by.

“When I have a bad injury, I think of the moments when I was young and all of that,” he provides. “For sure, it’s bad, because I can’t play football for a long time, but I have seen worse situations, so I try to enjoy and stay cool because life is good for me now.”

‘I need to win every thing with Chelsea’

He is optimistic, too, having signed a seven-year contract when he joined the membership from Leicester in August, that higher days lie forward, and that the ambitions he arrived with shall be fulfilled.

“I signed a long contract because I’m in the project,” he says. “I want to perform with Chelsea, I want to win everything with Chelsea. When I signed, this was my intention.

“I signed for that as a result of Chelsea, I do know, is an enormous membership. This aspect wins titles and trophies and I signed for that. For certain, I’m right here for a very long time and I’m very targeted to win every thing.”

In the meantime, although, he’s having fun with enjoying underneath caretaker boss and membership “legend” Frank Lampard.

“It’s crazy because I remember I played on the PlayStation with Lampard and now he is my manager. I listen to everything. I learn so much because this guy won everything in his career.”

Fofana and his Chelsea team-mates are nonetheless ready for affirmation of who will take over subsequent season, with all indicators pointing to Mauricio Pochettino, however Lampard is not the one one he’s studying from.

“When you see Thiago Silva, you see the career, it’s incredible,” he says of his 38-year-old fellow centre-back. “You learn on the pitch and after the training, you see the movement, the life and you say, ‘OK, I know why he is here.’

“You be taught a lot from him and the identical for [Kalidou] Koulibaly. When you see the profession, you be taught, as a result of this man could be very skilled and really targeted on soccer.”

It is Fofana himself, although, who finest represents the way forward for Chelsea’s defence having solely turned 22 in December. And that, largely, is because of the various challenges overcome in his previous.

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