Chelsea is preparing a third offer for Wesley Fofana, but should that approach fall through, they are also looking at other central defensive prospects.
Two offers for the 21-year-old have been turned down by the Blues; the most recent was a deal of £70 million.
The Ligue 1 champions may need to make a sizable offer topersuade Leicester to part with their star defender, as the Blues have discovered.
Last week, Brendan Rodgers emphasized three times that the defender was not up for sale.
The French U21 international has spoken with the manager of Leicester to persuade him to remain at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester is sure that it will be able to keep Fofana after he signed a five-year extension to his contract in March, and does not want to trade him. Later this week, Chelsea is poised to put that commitment to the test.
Thomas Tuchel still needs another central defender in light of the exits of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, despite the addition of Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli.
As the transfer window closes, Leicester’s resistance to selling Fofana will only grow, as will their price demand, leaving less time for that money to be reinvested in a defensive replacement.
However, Chelsea’s attempt to buy the defender may once more encounter obstacles.
Crook also disclosed that Fofana is being watched by Paris Saint-Germain, the dominant French team that was Tuchel’s previous club.
He also thinks that this development indicates that Leicester’s star player will leave the King Power Stadium this summer, albeit where he will go is still up in the air.
Brendan Rodgers, the manager of Leicester, won’t have many options at center-back if Fofana leaves because his team hasn’t added any players this summer.
Only an ineffective Caglar Soyuncu was on the bench while Fofana, Jonny Evans, and Daniel Amartey started the match against Brentford.
Wesley Fofana will join a lengthy list of players the Blues have failed to sign this transfer window, including Matthijs de Ligt and Jules Kounde if PSG is successful in outbidding Chelsea and signing the young talent.
It was thought that Chelsea would decide what would happen to Ethan Ampadu after they had bought a new defender. Ampadu defends on the same side of the field as Fofana, on the right.
And The Athletic just published a report saying that Chelsea hasapproved a season-long loan move for Ampadu, who will leave the team this transfer window, potentially creating an instant opening for Fofana.
Thomas Tuchel emphasized the need of lowering the age range of the center-back position when he said.
“We need to make sure we have a fresh generation that can take over.” Fofana is the ideal candidate because his attributes and experience will greatly aid Chelsea’s rebuilding of their defence”.
On October 18, 2020, Fofana made his Premier League debut for Leicester City as a starter against Aston Villa at the age of 19 years and 305 days.
He has made a total of 36 Premier League appearances during his career.
In October 2020, Fofana transferred from Saint-Étienne to Leicester City, where he played 20 league games and scored one goal.
Due to injury, Fofana represented Leicester City in seven PremierLeague games last year. Wesley Fofana was limited to 630 Premier League minutes last season, but in those 630 minutes, he ranked seventh in the league for recoveries in the defensive third and 15th for passes completed.
On August 13, Leicester City will travel to Arsenal in the Premier League.
Leicester City is currently in tenth place with one point.
