THE boyhood club of Chelsea’s latest signing, David Datro Fofana, have attempted to CANCEL his move to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues confirmed the arrival of the striker, 20, from Molde last month for £10.5million.
It means Graham Potter’s men have now already secured three new signings in the January window – Fofana, Monaco defender Benoit Badiashile, 21, and young Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos, 18.
However, according to The Mail, Fofana’s childhood side, Abidjan City, have written to Fifa alleging his first professional move to Molde two years ago was “unlawful”.
The row is the result of a dispute between Abidjan City and Fofana’s mother over whether she signed a consent form for him to join the Norwegian club in 2016.
At the time, he was just 15 years of age.
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Club president Marco Taddei wrote: “We, therefore, invite you to intervene with the Chelsea club so that the player’s transfer is suspended until the dispute between the Molde FK club and ourselves is settled.”
Chelsea insist the player is fully registered with them.
Fofana, who has been capped three times by Ivory Coast, went on to contribute 24 goals and 10 assists in 65 games for Molde – a run of form which saw him earn his move to Chelsea.
His arrival comes amid an injury crisis for the Blues as they languish down in 10th place in the Premier League table.
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Potter has a host of players sidelined including N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Ben Chilwell, Edouard Mendy, Reece James, Armando Broja, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Wesley Fofana.
Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic also went off with problems in the first half of their 1-0 loss to Manchester City on Thursday evening.
The depletion has seen Chelsea become incredibly active in the January transfer market.
They are furiously pursuing Benfica and Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez, 21, although his £106m release clause is proving a stumbling block.
And they are also hoping to hijack Arsenal’s deal for Shakhtar Donetsk forward Mykhailo Mudryk, 22.
Chelsea have already spent more than £300m since the end of last season.
Potter’s men face Man City for a second time in three days on Sunday when they travel to the Etihad for an FA Cup third-round clash.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
