Major injury to Chelsea ace scuppers Liverpool and Brighton's transfer hopes - £14m alternative found

Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana has undergone reconstructive surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament.

The 22-year-old centre-back begins his rehabilitation at the Blues’ Cobham training ground while the squad travel to the United States on a pre-season trip.

Fofana, who joined the Londoners from Leicester in 2022 for £75million, featured just 15 times for Chelsea in the Premier League last season as he suffered a number of injury setbacks.

This latest problem comes two years after the Frenchman broke his leg in a pre-season friendly for Leicester against Villareal which saw him miss a large part of the 2021-22 campaign.

Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Levi Colwill, Alfie Gilchrist and Bashir Humphreys are the remaining centre-back options at Mauricio Pochettino’s disposal in the US as he prepares for Thursday’s opening pre-season clash against Wrexham.

Brighton and Liverpool were hoping to sign Colwill following his successful loan at the American Express Stadium last term and had a £40m bid rejected by the Blues earlier this window.

The deal was starting to look unlikely but the injury to Fofana could scupper all hopes of completing a deal for the Chelsea. The Seagulls will now turn their full focus to Igor Julio of Fiorentina who is available at around £14m.