Chelsea's transfer priority has not changed with Liam Rosenior dealt £70m headache

Chelsea are set for a busy summer transfer window with a number of areas expected to be addressed but one position is perhaps in need of surgery more than others

With Joe Willock bearing down on goal, in front of the Matthew Harding Stand, Wesley Fofana jogged back. The Frenchman was watching Anthony Gordon pull away from him.

Willock squared it to Gordon. Newcastle United went 1-0 up. And that was how it stayed at Stamford Bridge.

From Chelsea's point of view, there were numerous things wrong with that goal. Tino Livramento, the right-back responsible for the through ball that cut the Blues open, was allowed far too much time to run forward and progress into a position where playing that pass was possible.

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The fact there was a gap that size was shocking from a Chelsea perspective. Fofana's lack of effort was arguably the thing that irked supporters the most, though.

The former Leicester City defender, who signed in the summer of 2022 for an initial £70million fee, then waved his arms in frustration, looking around at his teammates to almost ask, 'what just happened?'

Last Thursday, football.london asked head coach Liam Rosenior if he had spoken to Fofana about his role in Newcastle's goal. Rosenior replied: "I think there's always things in every goal. In that goal, there were a lot of mistakes, from a tactical and understanding point of view. Positionally, we didn't close the middle of the pitch.

"I've not spoken to Wes just solely about that. We speak about what he can improve on - as we do with every player - all of the time. That goal was a team situation, not just an individual."

Rosenior is not the sort of manager to throw his players under the bus, not in public. However, he must have been frustrated with Fofana's running, or lack of, for that goal. It would be strange if the Chelsea head coach was not frustrated.

It's not just the Newcastle goal either. Fofana's form recently has been really concerning from a Chelsea point of view. The whole defence, and goalkeeper(s), too, but Fofana is the one coming in for the most criticism for his recent contributions.

The 25-year-old was poor at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday evening as Chelsea slumped to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Everton, the Blues' fourth loss on the bounce.

Fofana seems to be losing out on a lot of duels recently - and the stats back that up. Via Opta, only five players in the Premier League have a lower success rate than Fofana's 48.48% when attempting a 'true tackle' (the number of true tackles attempted is tackles and challenges lost and fouls when attempting a tackle). Essentially, this is the proportion where the player touches the ball when tackling. It does not consider the outcome of the tackle.

Chelsea are expected to be active in the upcoming summer transfer window with positive conversations between Rosenior, the owners and the sporting directors already taking place behind the scenes. Speaking last week, Rosenior said: "We're having really detailed conversations now about the areas that we need to strengthen.

"I've had great conversations about what I think we need. We're very aligned, actually, in terms of where we want to strengthen and how we go about that, which is very exciting."

Chelsea are set to address numerous areas on the pitch in the transfer market, but one position we know they will certainly be looking at is centre-back. The Blues wanted to sign a starting-level central defender last summer - even before Levi Colwill's anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury - with Dean Huijsen, then of Bournemouth, their No.1 target. However, the Spain international ended up moving to Real Madrid.

Chelsea did not want to be reactive when they missed out on Huijsen and would only go into the market if they believed an elite centre-back was available to buy. That, of course, did not happen until the January transfer window where the Blues pursued Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes. The Frenchman, however, chose Liverpool in the end.

That leaves Chelsea where they are now. Marcos Senesi was someone looked at in January, with the Bournemouth defender expected to be available on a free transfer in the summer but whether or not the Blues rekindle their interest in the Argentine remains to be seen.