Chelsea close to agreeing deal for defender Wesley Fofana with Leicester with transfer fee believed to be £70m plus add-ons; Blues host Foxes at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with Frenchman already confirmed as missing game because of speculation
Saturday 27 August 2022 11:35, UK
Chelsea are close to agreeing a deal with Leicester for defender Wesley Fofana for a fee believed to be £70m plus add-ons.
The bid is Chelsea's fourth for the French centre-back, having seen an offer of around £60m up-front rejected by the Foxes earlier this week.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers earlier confirmed Fofana, who missed last weekend's defeat to Southampton amid the speculation over his future, would also be unavailable for Saturday's trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.
Fofana wants to move to the Blues and, speaking after Leicester's penalty shoot-out victory at Stockport in the Carabao Cup, Rodgers confirmed the player was training with the club's U23s after failing to turn up to a training session last week.
"He won't be available for the weekend and has trained with U23 squad," Rodgers told reporters ahead of Saturday's game.
"I'm not sure [if a deal will get done], my concentration is on the players that we have, and the team. I can't lose energy. If something will be done, it will be done with the clubs. Until that happens we just have to work with what we have."
Rodgers added: "Hopefully [there will be some transfer business done between now and the end of the window]. That would be really good for the team to be able to do that, to improve the squad is always important. But until that changes, we will work with what we have."
A third Chelsea bid for Fofana, worth £70m in total, was immediately rejected earlier this week.
The offer was believed to be £60m with a possible £10m in add-ons - but the additional payments were described to Sky Sports News as "ambitious" targets.
Chelsea previously had two bids in excess of £60m rejected.
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