Chelsea only confirmed David Datro Fofana’s arrival at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but the deal is already the subject of international controversy. The 20-year-old striker signed for the Blues on a 6-year contract, with a salary of around £8million, after scoring 24 goals in 65 games for Norwegian club Molde. A little over a week after his arrival, Abidjan City, an Ivorian amateur club where he started playing football during his childhood, opposed his signing with the English club. So much so that, according to the British newspaper Mirror, the club from Côte d’Ivoire sent a letter to FIFA demanding that the transfer be void.
The reason, according to British media, is a dispute stemming from a row between the club and Fofana’s mother over whether or not she signed a consent form in 2016, when the player was 16. . The Ivorian leaders claim that his subsequent departure to Norway in 2021 was thus illegal and have therefore written to FIFA to have his contract with Chelsea cancelled: “We therefore invite you to intervene with the Chelsea club so that the transfer of the player is suspended until the dispute between the Molde FK club and ourselves is resolved”, wrote club president Marco Taddei. Case to follow.
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