Chelsea confirm departure of £11m striker on loan

Chelsea have announced David Datro Fofana has joined Burnley on loan for the rest of the 2023/24 season.

Fofana spent the first half of the campaign on loan at Bundesliga side Union Berlin, who had qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.

However, the striker failed to nail down a starting place in the German capital, scoring just twice in 17 appearances across all competitions. Chelsea have decided to cut short Fofana's spell at Union and have sent him to Burnley for the remainder of the season instead

Speaking to Burnley's club channels, Fofana said: "It feels very good to be here, I'm really happy. I think it will be a really good place for me to progress and it's the perfect move for me.

"To work with Vincent Kompany will be very good. I have seen a couple of games already and I think this is the right place for me to make the next steps.

"I have known about Burnley for a long time, they have been in the Premier League before this season and the champions [of the Championship] last year and I'm now looking forward to now being a part of this team."

Fofana signed for Chelsea in January 2023 for an £11m fee from Norwegian side Molde, but he was limited to four brief appearances for the rest of the season.

The 21-year-old will now be tasked with helping fire Burnley to Premier League safety. The Clarets sit 19th in the table having taken only 12 points from their first 21 games. They most recently drew 1-1 at home to fellow strugglers Luton Town on Friday night, with Carlton Morris grabbing a controversial equaliser in added time for the Hatters.

Meanwhile, Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has admitted the club could sign a new striker to fill the void left by Christopher Nkunku, who has been worryingly sidelined for longer than expected with a hip problem.

"It's true that now in the next few days, we are going to see the situation. That's why I told you that I am a little worried," Pochettino said when asked if Chelsea could bring in another forward amid Nkunku's injury.

"I still don't have all the information about whether [Nkunku] is going to be available or not for a small initial period. We need to be very clinical to take some decisions to think and see how we fix the problem.

"All of these situations make our job a little more difficult. I told you before that it is an exciting project but situations like this make it more difficult to change the situation and grow at a different pace."

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