Fofana reiterates it was his “dream” to join Chelsea, the club he supported as a boy growing up in Marseille, through his admiration for the Blues’ former striker Didier Drogba.
However, Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League last season and failed to win a trophy.
Fofana was arguably the fall guy for many supporters, not helped by footage of him laughing on the bench during a heavy Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain in March.
He said it was not as significant as some made out and that those inside the club “know my mentality”, but added: “When the team is not doing well, we need to find someone [to blame]. I can accept that.
“The club bought me for a very big transfer [fee]. I came with the ambition to be the best in my position and to help the team. So, when things go badly, I accept being the guy [people blame].”
The France defender could easily have pointed the finger at Chelsea themselves. Former manager Enzo Maresca left the club after a falling out with the hierarchy, while his replacement Liam Rosenior oversaw a five-game winless run without a goal and lost the support of large sections of the dressing room during his four-month spell.
“Of course we can use this as an excuse, but I think it’s the players,” said Fofana. “We didn’t give everything. We lost some games, we produced some poor performances and we missed a lot of things.
“Of course you can’t bring that into the new season, but I think everyone knows what was wrong last season. Everyone looked at themselves in the mirror.”
There is a line that cannot be crossed.
Fofana, a Muslim whose father is from Ivory Coast, was racially abused on Instagram last season. He also highlighted abuse in March 2025.
He says it hurts to see those messages, but he will never stop calling it out.
“It is not a big thing to expose people who do that,” he said. “For me, it is very important. For me and other players, we need to show what people are saying.
“We need to educate people. I think the people behind Instagram need to work on that. I exposed this on Instagram and Twitter [now called X] because I think they need to be more aware and more conscious of this problem.
“It is not only football. I think the world is a little bit like this and it is too easy to say some things. Sometimes I receive messages and I don’t think these people are racist.
“They send monkey emojis because they are unhappy with the result and then, if I score in the next game, the same people support me.
“We need to educate people because it is not normal to talk like this. I understand that if I get a red card, you can be disappointed, but you cannot say these things.”
Fofana says young players have shown him similar messages after matches and chosen not to do anything about them. Having received such abuse from a young age he is prepared to continue speaking out, even if it leads to criticism of his own character.