What to Expect from Chelsea's Newest Signing David Datro Fofana

In February 2021, an unknown Ivorian 18-year-old prospect was signed by Molde in an attempt to rejuvenate and rebuild after being trounced to the Eliteserien title in the 2020 episode of the pinnacle of Norwegian football by a substantial 19-point gap. Molde’s performance had only minimally regressed from the antecedent season; a deficit of 6 points from 2019 to 2020- equating to only 0.2 points per game.

Yet, led by Kjetil Knutsen, Bod∅/Glimt jumped from runners-up with 54 points (therefore 1.8 points per game) to 81 points and thus an increase of 0.9 points per game. Molde needed reinvigorating. Fast forward to January 2023 and the western outfit is still basking in the glory of their victory in the 2022 season; the eventual champions by an 18-point margin. ‘The protagonist to this title charge?’, I hear you ask. David Datro Fofana; the (now) 20-year-old wonderkid in a breakout season.

As we all know, Molde have further strengthened their title credentials for the upcoming Eliteserien season by finalising (according to Fofana’s agent, Aneke) a record-breaking move to Chelsea. The fee is not disclosed as of yet but is allegedly reported by credible sources to be in the region of £11 million which comfortably usurps the previous Eliteserien record set by Bod∅/Glimt’s transfer of Erik Bothiem to Krasnador which was in the vicinity of £9.5 million.

This cash flow will facilitate not only a replacement for their outgoing talisman but also a bolstering of an already title-capable squad which will stand them in incredible stead and it would be hard to bet against them to retain their position as Seriemester. And so, this poses us with a myriad of questions; why did Chelsea sanction this move? Is he an immediate starter? What should we expect from him? Can he replicate his performance levels in Norway in a much harder league? What are his strengths/weaknesses? I will attempt to solve these queries (and hopefully many more) in the below analysis!