Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has said that Wesley Fofana is expected to be sidelined until 2022 after being injured in a pre-season match.
The French defender fractured his right fibula after he was on the receiving end of a tackle from Villarreal attacker Fernando Nino.
The 20-year-old’s leg was caught underneath Nino’s as the tackle occurred and he went down immediately.
The Marseille-born centre-back was stretchered off the pitch and was replaced by Ben Nelson.
The injury is worse than what was originally feared, with scans showing that the defender has also suffered medial knee ligament damage.
Quoted in The Athletic, Rodgers spoke about the injury to one of his first-choice centre backs.
“He will have his operation on Monday and he won’t play again until 2022,” Rodgers said after his side’s Community Shield win over Manchester City.
“At which point [of 2022], we don’t know yet. We will assess him as he goes. It’s a shame for him and for the Premier League not to have a player like that in it.
“Unfortunately the ligament damage is quite bad. He’s in great spirits. Some players want to go back to their own country [for their rehabilitation] but he wants to stay here and be around his team-mates.
“He will be back at the training ground on Thursday after his operation and he will start his rehabilitation from there.”
The young defender joined the English side from Saint-Etienne last season for a sum of £31 million and made an immediate impact.
Fofana played 38 times for the team over the course of last season and was part of Leicester’s historic FA Cup-winning run, playing in the final.
Leicester recently won the FA Community Shield without their French centre-half in a match where poor behaviour from their fans overshadowed an otherwise brilliant day for the club.
