The prospect of Wesley Fofana joining Chelsea is very real.
It’s been widely reported that the Leicester City centre-back in on the Blues’ radar before the transfer window shuts.
And Chelsea have already seen two offers knocked back by the Foxes, the largest of which was around £70 million – a figure which shocked Gary Neville.
Such a major bid certainly reflects the suggestions that this is a player desperately wanted at Stamford Bridge.
And Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol believes that the West Londoners will indeed raise their offer to something very close to £80 million, City’s valuation of the French powerhouse.
He told Sky Sports on Thursday evening: “Chelsea want a centre-back and Wesley Fofana is their main target. Their second bid was worth potentially in total £70m Leicester aren’t interested in anything less than their value of more than £80m.
“Chelsea may go close to £80m to sign him. Rudiger and Christensen have both left and Fofana is a very good player.”
Thomas Tuchel has already spent major money on a defender recently after investing £50 million on luring Marc Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion.
But with Romelu Lukaku gone and Timo Werner having followed him through the exit this week, attacking players are essential for the German manager between now and the end of the window.
Tuchel might get away with Thiago Silva and Kalidou Koulibaly as his centre-back pairing this season, despite both being well into their 30s, but he won’t get away with not adding a world-class attacker and those at Stamford Bridge won’t be happy if such a major outlay on Fofana hinders their efforts to sign another striker.
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