Oh, and we’d be remiss not to mention: he has one of the best chants in the league, sung to the tune of The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer”...
“Then I saw his face… it’s CARLOS BALEBA!”
No extra points for that, of course—but we still think it’s worth a shout.
France is blessed with a wealth of outstanding defensive midfielders—Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga and N’Golo Kanté, to name just a few.
And while Youssouf Fofana may not quite sit at the same table as those three, he’s not far off. What sets him apart is a distinct quality: he's not just defensively solid, he’s a true box-to-box presence, just as comfortable surging forward as he is shielding the backline.