Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Neymar and Mohamed Salah have dominated the headlines for years, but there will inevitably come a time when they will have to hand over their throne to the next generation. In the column Toppers van Morgen, Voetbalzone puts a potential successor to these greats in the limelight every time. Who are in the spotlight at the biggest clubs and should therefore not be missing from your own watchlist? This time, the focus is on Wesley Fofana, who has a strong start at Leicester City and seems well on his way to becoming the scouting apparatus’ next direct hit.

By Thijs Verhaar

Leicester coach Brendan Rodgers is normally not the man to put unnecessary pressure on his players, but could not contain his euphoria when his club announced the arrival of Fofana on Friday, October 2. “He is a brilliant asset to us. When you see it playing, it is as if it has been there for years. He defends very aggressively, is super fast and strong. We said at the start of the transfer period that we only wanted players who immediately make us stronger and Wesley has that in him ”, the coach praised the nineteen-year-old newcomer. The French youth international was taken over from Saint-Étienne for a sum of 35 million euros and put its scribble under a five-season commitment.

“I have been following this club closely since they became champions and consider this team simply as a top club in England,” added Fofana in turn. Leicester City wrote the ultimate football fairytale in the 2015/16 season by winning the Premier League with a team of unknown players from the lower leagues. Players such as Riyad Mahrez, N’golo Kanté and Harry Maguire have since become world stars in King Power Stadium and the latter can even call himself the most expensive defender of all time with his transfer of 87 million euros to Manchester United in the summer of 2019. The Foxes had already brought in his successor with Caglar Söyüncü a year earlier and with the arrival of Fofana, the club is already anticipating the future departure of the Turkish man.

Fofana made a name for himself in the French Ligue 1 last season, where he became the stronghold of Saint-Étienne despite his very young age. The 1.90 meter long right foot rules thanks to its enormous jumping power in the air and also has enough physical strength to make it difficult for all strikers. He can also play with a lot of space in the back, because he can fall back on his far above average speed. He also regularly uses those quick legs to cover from the defense towards midfield, which results in frequent possession of the ball. At his French club last season, however, in his zeal to support the midfield, he also occasionally walked too far forward, leaving a big gap in the defense.

Saint-Étienne solved this as best he could by lowering the defensive midfielder back to the back line during runs from Fofana, commanding fairness to say that the young Frenchman was less likely to be naïve later in the season. In the last months of the season he showed a better understanding of where to stand on the field and grew in tactical discipline, where he in turn had to perceive for the steamy right back when the ball lost. Fofana can also manage in this position in need, although its greatest quality lies in the center. As he grows more and more into position play, he has everything a modern center-back should have, as evidenced by his promising start at Leicester City, where he looked rock solid again for ninety minutes against Arsenal on Sunday.

Fofana has not fallen through the lower limit for a long time in both the Ligue 1 and the Premier League.

As said, the Frenchman arrived on October 2 and had to miss the first league game against West Ham United two days later, but has not missed a minute in Rodgers’ team since then. The trainer saw Söyüncü fall out injured and has to do without the Turkish defense leader for an estimated three months. As a result, Fofana is thrown into the deep earlier than expected and newcomers appear to need no adjustment time. For the time being he is doing excellent in the five-man defense and has not yet been caught in a big mistake. FootballCritic therefore rates his three first appearances in the English service with a more than satisfactory and that is in line with the image that he is one of the world’s most promising young players.

The website gives all players a rating between zero and one hundred and is based on the last 1,800 minutes of play in which someone took action. By measuring over such a long period, it is crystal clear how constant players are performing. Since consistency is very difficult for young footballers, Fofana’s score (79) is excellent. He is currently estimated by FootballCritic as equal to, for example, Toby Alderweireld, who has already more than earned his spurs in the Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur. Fofana will do the same if he continues to tackle his points for improvement. As mentioned, he sometimes pushes the covering too far and he regularly has a hard time when he himself is put under pressure.

The level of Wesley Fofana is currently comparable to Toby Alderweireld, according to FootballCritic.

In those cases, he quickly opts for a hurried pass back to the keeper or a risky pass to a field player, who then has to get out of that situation. At Leicester, however, he can now apprentice to highly experienced defenders such as Jonny Evans (32), Christian Fuchs (34) and Wes Morgan (36). Under their wing, he can continue to mature and get used to the Premier League, where he played against his great idol Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Sunday. “That’s how I started and that’s how it is now”, the youngster posted on Twitter afterwards under two photos of him and the Arsenal striker. On the first, Fofana stood as a small pupil of about twelve years next to the world star, who played for Saint-Étienne between 2011 and 2013. In the second image, they were on the field together as equals in the Premier League. “I am very proud of the path I have already traveled.”

How it’s started / How It’s going Very proud of the road traveled ?? @ Aubameyang7 pic.twitter.com/tVQC6zF2kE

– LaWestt_ (@Wesley_Fofanaa) October 25, 2020

Fofana kept his strength and largely eliminated Aubameyang from the game, which was won 0-1 by Leicester. As a result, the defense with the young Frenchman was not passed for the second time in a row, after the midweek Europa League match against Zorya Lugansk had already been won 3-0. However, Arsenal and Aubameyang in particular is of a completely different caliber than the club from Ukraine. We can therefore rightly consider the test against an English top club as a baptism of fire for Fofana and in that respect he has completely passed. It is not for nothing that the first analysts are already proclaiming that the Frenchman should keep his basic place if the unapproachable Söyüncü is fit again after the turn of the year. They could, in theory, form an excellent trio with Evans and ensure that Leicester does not sink into the battle for Champions League tickets at the last minute, like last season.

In the previous year, after a few injuries, it was mainly defensive in the last weeks, so no expense was spared this summer to recruit an extra top-class center-back. “It’s a lot to pay 35 million euros for a teenager, but he has everything to be a success,” concluded former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch last weekend. BT Sport. “Fofana looks promising with his speed, head power and decisive defense. I understand why many clubs followed him this summer, ”concluded the analyst, who knows that the Frenchman was also mentioned by teams such as AC Milan, West Ham United and Sevilla. Leicester, however, took the longest and will undoubtedly earn on it in the future, as the King Power Stadium is by no means the end station for the nineteen-year-old center-back.