SMASHING TIMES FOR KID FOFANA
WESLEY FOFANA was suspended from school for breaking a window.
Since then, he has broken hearts at Saint-etienne... and records when he joined Leicester.
The precocious centre-half, 20, grew up in tough surroundings of the French port city Marseille and moved away in his teens to follow a dream.
Boy, has it paid off. It did not take long, following a breakthrough into Saint-etienne’s first-team, for Europe’s major clubs to come calling.
And it was the Foxes who took the plunge with a deal that could rise to £36.5million – a record transfer receipt for the French club.
But back to that smashed pane of glass. Fofana said: “I was 10 or 11 and I was attending a school where we were not allowed to play football.
“I was training with my junior club in Marseille and sometimes I would go straight from school.
Punished
“I was waiting there one day to be picked up and was playing football. I managed to break a window. They punished me for that and suspended me from school for one week.
“But there were no hard feelings afterwards and I was forgiven.”
Fofana lists Marseille old boy Didier Drogba as one of his heroes. And he bumped into another when he linked up with the Foxes.
Fofana’s roots lie in the Ivory Coast and former Arsenal and Liverpool favourite Kolo Toure, now on the King Power coaching staff, has taken him under his wing.
But it has not been easy for Fofana who had to run the gauntlet in Saintetienne when it was announced he was leaving.
He added: “It was tough for me and my family – for them especially because it had nothing to do with them. When Leicester came in for me I was 100 per cent sure that was where I wanted to go. Saint-etienne didn’t agree with me.
“I wanted to leave. They said, ‘No’. The coach (former Leicester boss Claude Puel) didn’t want me to go either. There were negotiations between me and the club.
“Some of the supporters weren’t happy. Things were said. But I built a wall around myself. I knew I was making the right decision.
“They wanted what was best for their team, I understand that. Right now, everything has worked out for the best.”