Portugal Colonial - Maresca adamant Fofana 'very happy' at Chelsea

The 24-year-old France international, an unused substitute during Sunday's goalless draw at home to Crystal Palace, previously did something similar in 2022, just before completing a £70 million ($94 million) move from Leicester to Chelsea.

The 19-year-old academy graduate Josh Acheampong was preferred alongside Trevoh Chalobah for the Palace draw despite a long-term injury to fellow central defender Levi Colwill.

Maresca said after the match he never planned to deploy Fofana for the game, with the defender having missed a large part of last season after injuring his hamstring in December.

Fofana, however, is expected to play some part when Chelsea face West Ham at the London Stadium on Friday.

"I spoke with Wes every day. He's very happy, first of all because he's back from injury. He's joining all the sessions with us," Maresca told a pre-match press conference on Thursday.

"He was on the bench just to be with us but from (Friday) he can get some minutes. We are happy, he is happy. About Instagram, I don't have any idea because I don't use social networks."

Fofana, who has been limited to 34 appearances for the club in three seasons due to injuries, subsequently suffered online abuse on Wednesday after removing all references to Chelsea from his Instagram.

"Wes is happy, we are happy, there is nothing to add on that," said Maresca.

"If there is abuse on Instagram, it's never good. Not good for Wes, not for any player or human being in the world. It's something unfortunately we cannot control."

Maresca appears to have become involved in a disagreement with the Chelsea hierarchy after saying before the Palace match that "the club knows" he favours signing a replacement to help cover Colwill's role given the player's importance in building attacks from the back.

Tosin Adarabioyo, who missed the Palace match but is available to face West Ham, is considered the only member of the current squad capable of stepping into Colwill's position.

Maresca, who has previously dismissed the possibility of using Fofana in the role after a failed experiment during last season's win over Bournemouth, has been told by the club he must make ends meet with the existing squad.

"We used Josh in the last game, we are trying to find some internal solutions... we will see if something happens," said the Italian.

M.Gameiro--PC