Leicester City made millions from £30m investment – he was worth every penny | OneFootball

The signing of Wesley Fofana for £30 million in October 2020 was worth every penny for Leicester City.

After winning the Premier League title in 2016, Leicester City were often guilty of wasting money in the coming years on big-money signings that eventually flopped – but one man who cannot fall into that category is centre-back Wesley Fofana.

Trying to establish themselves as a genuine sustained force at the top end of the Premier League after their remarkable title-winning campaign in the 2015/16 season, Leicester had finished 12th and then enjoyed back-to-back seasons of finishing ninth.

The 2019/20 season saw them miss out on UEFA Champions League football on the final day of the campaign, having been on the cusp of a title challenge at one stage, and the summer of 2020 saw the Foxes seek to take the next step.

One key pillar of that next step was the signing of French centre-back Wesley Fofana for a fee believed to be in the region of £30 million – and it was a move that was worth every penny.

Wesley Fofana helped Leicester City win the FA Cup

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The 2020/21 season saw the Foxes try and take that next step to kick on to becoming a UEFA Champions League club again, and Fofana certainly did his part in helping them make the step-up.

Properly transitioning away from club captain Wes Morgan and beginning a new era for their squad, Fofana quickly established himself as a key man for Leicester, having joined for a hefty fee in October 2020.

Fofana went on to make 28 appearances in the Premier League for Leicester that season and was utterly immense in a back-line that was set up to be proactive and play with the ball, which Fofana showed his capabilities of to a brilliant extent.

Able to set the tempo, Leicester supporters quickly recognised what a high quality player they had on their hands, but performances in the FA Cup, in which defending took centre stage, are often the most memorable.

Clean sheets in 1-0 victories against Southampton in the semi-final and then Chelsea in the final at Wembley Stadium were built on the brilliance of Fofana, with an excellent reading of the game matched by his speed to shut down any hint of opposition attacks. That first ever FA Cup will forever be remembered and is, in its own way, just as special as the Premier League title this period was built on.

Fofana was named the club’s Young Player of the Season as they once again narrowly missed out on a top four finish on the final day, with supporters excited about just how good the Marseille-born then-20-year-old would become.

Wesley Fofana’s sale was also brilliant for Leicester City

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The summer of 2021 saw Fofana suffer a broken leg in a pre-season friendly against Villarreal and that meant he would only be available for seven Premier League appearances that season.

Despite that, Chelsea still opted to launch a mega-money move for the Frenchman, signing him from the King Power Stadium for a fee believed to be in the region of £70 million.

That injury-hit 2021/22 campaign has since gone on to become something of a theme for the now 24-year-old, with Fofana having only made 38 appearances for Chelsea in over three seasons at Stamford Bridge.

For a hefty initial fee, Leicester managed to make over 100% profit on their investment, whilst having brought in someone that played an essential role in them winning the FA Cup for the first time ever.

His final season with the Foxes is also reason to further praise his sale by the club, with the amount of time he missed meaning the argument that his sale was responsible for their 2022/23 relegation is moot, and the profit they achieved, with his original signing now, in retrospect, an absolute masterstroke for both footballing and financial reasons.