Going blond was Fofana’s biggest mistake in his debut season!
RODGERS DELIGHTED AT YOUNGSTER’S PROGRESS
IT’S a sign of the success of Wesley Fofana’s maiden Premier League campaign that perhaps his biggest mistake was dying his hair blond.
The central defender has been one of the signings of the season, defying his age to produce countless mature performances and help Leicester City push for a place in the top four of the Premier League and towards FA Cup glory.
After a stint away with France Under-21s, in which he started just one of their three games, and at right-back, he will return to a City defence on Saturday to take on Premier League leaders Manchester City.
It is another big stage on which the 20-year-old can show his talents which, for manager Brendan Rodgers, were evident as soon as he arrived at the club.
From his first training session, it was clear to the City boss that changing countries would not prevent him fulfilling the promise he showed at Saint-Etienne.
But Rodgers is a coach at heart and so getting the best out of Fofana is his aim.
That means teaching him when it is the right time to press and when to keep his hair as it is.
After six wins from his first seven games in a City shirt, Fofana returned from an international break with bleached hair.
It coincided with a run of four games without victory, prompting the centre-back to say: “The dye is not very successful for me. I will put my hair as before.”
It seems his manager may have had a word with him too.
“The first day of training I remember in an exercise that you could just tell he was a top young player, with his awareness of space, how he passed the ball, and his aggression,” Rodgers said. “He was very good.
“He still has a lot of improvements to make. That will come as he develops more awareness of the game, as he plays more games, and he’s in more situations.
“He’s still got moments where he doesn’t press at the right time, and he can maybe defend the space a little bit more.
“There’s huge potential there from a football perspective.
“As a person, he’s a tough boy. He’s very responsible.
“A young player who comes in from abroad, sometimes they need taking by the hand and showing everything.
“He’s grown up in his life and taken a lot of responsibility himself. He has a great maturity for a young player.
“Like any young player, you have to educate them, so when he dyes his hair blond, you’ve got to tell him to get it back to normal. It’s little things like that.
“He’s a great young guy who has given us everything that we would have hoped and more, and has got huge potential.
“At 20 years of age, he’s only going to get better.”
Claude Puel, the former City boss and the man under whom Fofana made his breakthrough with SaintEtienne, believes he has the potential to be the best central defender in the world.
Fofana is not shying away from that target.
“If he said that then it’s really flattering and I am very grateful,” said the centre-back.
“I am someone who is always determined to be the very best at whatever I do.
“If he said that then it just strengthens that mentality even in me that
I am going to give everything I can to make sure it comes true.
“Perhaps my career really took a little later than expected or planned, but that never worried me.
“I’m someone who has always worked hard. Maybe it means I was working in the shadows.
“I was never the best in my generation, never the one who stood out, but I was always completely focused on my goal and I think that shows today.”