Brendan Rodgers: Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell return a reminder for Leicester
The defenders both left the King Power Stadium to join Chelsea.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Boss Brendan Rodgers believes the return of Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell puts Leicester’s financial clout into perspective.
The Foxes sold Chilwell and Fofana for a combined £120million to Chelsea and the pair are likely to line up against their former club on Saturday.
Chief executive Susan Whelan admitted this week, after the club’s financial results for the year ending May 2022 showed a £92.5million loss, the Foxes would continue to need to sell players to comply with Financial Fair Play.
It means James Maddison could go in the summer, with only a year left on his current deal, and Rodgers knows the return of Chilwell and Fofana serves as a reminder of where the Foxes sit.
“I think most fans will see that when quality gets taken out of your team then it can only naturally affect things,” he said.
“Especially when you can’t really replace it but it is what it is. Those guys moved on, they were great for us, they got their move.
“As a club you always have to ensure you have that pipeline of player who can come in and has the potential to reach the levels of the guys who departed.
“The club have lost players before I was here, they’ve lost players while I’ve been here and they probably will do long after I’m gone.
“The whole challenge is trying to replace those with hungry players and players that are coachable.”
Fofana will make his first return to the King Power Stadium since a £70million move to Stamford Bridge in August.
The defender ended his Leicester career working with the Under-23s after failing to turn up to first-team training as he tried to force a move.
But Rodgers always maintained he had a good relationship with the 22-year-old and will welcome him back.
He said: “I’ll be really pleased to see him. He was brilliant for me. He was a young player and I understand the game, what happened for him to get out, and the words that were mentioned, I know for a fact were not from him.
“Our relationship was strong, we took a young guy out of a team who hadn’t played many games. He helped us achieve some great things here. He’s a hugely talented player and he’s a really good young guy. I look forward to seeing him.
“I watched him the other night playing against Dortmund and you could see him getting back to his level. He was obviously injured in the early part of the season. He’ll be a brilliant player for Chelsea and I look forward to seeing him.”