Mauricio Pochettino confirms £70m signing will not play for the club again this season

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino says Wesley Fofana's season is over having been forced into surgery earlier on in the campaign and suffering a setback at Cobham recently. The French defender who signed for Chelsea two seasons ago for £70million is regarded by many as one of the best defenders in the Premier League but injuries have plagued his time in West London.

Asked if there was a chance he could play again this season, the Chelsea manager said: “I don’t think we will see him back before the end of this season, unfortunately. You never know, of course. But it looks like this now”.

Fofana's blow is an example of the challenging nature of Chelsea's season with as many as 10 players expected to miss the trip to Brentford away. Midfielder Romeo Lavia has battled fitness issues while Carney Chukwuemeka is only likely to be back to team training next week.

Captain Reece James is not expected back until the next month and Marc Cucurella has only been able to train this week after being out for the last 73 days.

There is however some good news though with Thiago Silva who has been battling a groin problem in contention to play again this weekend.

He adds to the relief of having Trevoh Chalobah who played his first 90 minutes against United in midweek. Chalobah has been linked with an exit all summer but showed his ability with an imperious performance against the Championship side that helped them to reach the quarter-final of the League Cup.