Thomas Tuchel has backed Wesley Fofana to be a success at Chelsea and insists the ‘defender did not disrespect’ Leicester.
Chelsea completed the signing of Fofana in a £75m deal earlier this week after a protracted chase, one which saw the west Londoners make several approaches before a deal was agreed.
Fofana was left out of the Leicester squad for fixtures against Southampton and Chelsea as his future became uncertain, with Brendan Rodgers have stated that the 21-year-old was not in the right frame of mind to feature.
After completing his move to Chelsea, Fofana released a statement on social media in which he thanked Leicester – despite ‘false and misleading comments’ from the club in recent weeks.
Get the badge in. 😃#FofanaIsChelsea pic.twitter.com/sLd0Ir4Rb8
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 31, 2022
“Thanks to the managers, to the coach who has always appreciated me, even if he chose to expose me a lot lately,” Fofana said, via Instagram.
“I chose not to communicate during this transfer window despite all the criticism and all the often false and misleading comments, even when they were coming from the club.
“I understood and I learned. I didn’t want to damage the image of the institution and I chose to take it rather than answer.”
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s clash with West Ham, Tuchel has defended the Frenchman and insists Fofana ‘did not disrespect’ his former side.
“Wesley was reliable in what he said to me and he did not disrespect Leicester,” Tuchel told his pre-match press conference.
”He saw a chance for himself and an opportunity to convince Leicester to let him come to us.
”In the very end it happened, but towards me he was a very respectful person.”
