Head coach Mauricio Pochettino has acknowledged that he and the Chelsea squad "feel so sad" for Wesley Fofana after he sustained another serious knee injury.
In his first season at Stamford Bridge, Fofana was restricted to just 17 starts and three substitute outings courtesy of a knee injury that kept him out between October and February and a number of other minor niggles.
The France international had been earmarked to play a major role during 2023-24, but the £70m signing will now miss the majority of next season after being required to undergo cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday's friendly with Wrexham, Pochettino was naturally quizzed on the matter, expressing his disappointment for the 22-year-old yet hinting that the club needed to respond by finding a suitable alternative as soon as possible.
The Argentine told reporters, as quoted by football.london: "Really sad, really bad news. We feel so sad. We can only help him and to be again with the team we know it is tough.
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"We need to help him and wish him all the best and to be back as soon as possible with the team. We need to keep going, the competition is there. The competition doesn't wait for anyone and we need to be ready to compete."
As it stands, Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Levi Colwill and Benoit Badiashile are Chelsea's four remaining senior options, the latter currently going through a period of rehabilitation for his own injury sustained at the back end of 2022-23.
In the case of Colwill, he is allegedly in line for regular involvement with Chelsea this season, but the England Under-21 international is on the radar of the likes of Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion.
After his involvement at the Under-21 European Championship, Colwill has only recently held extensive discussions with Pochettino, who admits that they need to try to forge a relationship to get the best out of each other.
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Pochettino added: "We were talking, a really nice chat. Of course, always it is private. It is important: they need to know us, what we think, they need to see that the competition is going to be tough but they can challenge for that and can have the possibility if they deserve to be in the starting XI.
"They understood our word and we understood what they meant to us and it is clear and we are so happy. Tomorrow we start the competition, start to compete and they need to speak there on the pitch."
With Chelsea having taken 29 players to the United States, Colwill may be kept in reserve for the match with Wrexham having last played as recently as July 8.
Pochettino also reiterated to the media that Chelsea were working hard to add to their squad as soon as possible, the most recent development being a rejected £70m bid for Brighton's Moises Caicedo.
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