By Rob Tanner
48m ago
When the second bid for Wesley Fofana from Chelsea landed at Leicester City last week it was rejected immediately — but that is unlikely to be the end of the matter.
Despite Leicester’s inability to move on some of their surplus squad members to create space for new additions, selling Fofana or any of their other young assets, including James Maddison, is just not on the agenda at King Power Stadium.
Less than six months ago, Fofana was handed a new contract until 2027 to reflect his growing status at the club and his emergence as one of the brightest young prospects in the Premier League.
At 21 and with five years left on his contract, Leicester’s valuation of Fofana far exceeds the offer from Chelsea, which The Athletic understands was closer to £60million ($72.8m) than the £70million reported.
The £63million Chelsea recently paid Brighton & Hove Albion for full-back Marc Cucurella has also been noted by Leicester. Manchester City had been linked with the Spaniard all summer but were determined not to spend more than £40million on him.
Leicester knew what they were getting when, after just 30 senior appearances for Saint-Etienne, they paid £35million for Fofana in October 2020. However, he exceeded their expectations in his debut season when he had to be thrown in sooner than Brendan Rodgers had planned. Even a serious leg injury in pre-season a year ago has not stopped his progress, merely delayed it.
The Leicester manager has repeatedly said Fofana will become one of the best defenders in Europe and there is an acceptance he will move onto a bigger club at some stage — but not this summer.
Rodgers has held talks with Fofana about the situation, trying to convince him that his development and ambition to make the France squad for the World Cup in Qatar is better suited at Leicester, where he will play regularly.
Fofana is understood to be keen on a move to Chelsea. His agents probably even more so as it would be a big payday, but besides removing the club’s name from his social media accounts, he has not pushed too hard. He did, however, angle for a move when Leicester were trying to sign him from Saint-Etienne, pleading through L’Equipe.
“From where I come from, the districts north of Marseille and a struggling family, it’s not possible to turn it down,” he told the newspaper. “I would be crazy to say no to Leicester. This contract can change my life. I must protect my family.”
The defender was forced to take himself off social media as he was labelled a mercenary and a traitor by some Saint-Etienne supporters. Even his family suffered abuse.
If he does try to engineer a move, it is a situation Leicester have found themselves in before.
His performances in pre-season and in the opening-day draw with Brentford have been impressive and provided no evidence of any disruption. Fofana was excellent on Sunday, carrying the ball for more yards than any other Leicester player. It was a committed display.
“Outstanding,” was Rodgers’ verdict on the performance. “He was up against a tough opponent (Ivan Toney). He (Toney) is aggressive but I thought Fofana was very good. For someone who is just 21, he was excellent in defending forward and strongly.”
This is familiar territory for Leicester. In fact, it would be more concerning if they didn’t have clubs with greater resources coveting their players, as that would be an indication their model of finding emerging young talent and developing them before they move on was broken.
It has worked previously with N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez and Harry Maguire, and academy graduate Ben Chilwell was also sold for big money. In total, all five were recruited for less than £25million but sold for £250million. More than £110million of that came from Chelsea alone.
Leicester do not want to deter future signings by holding onto ambitious players against their will. The club must be seen as a viable option to help a young player’s development but selling Fofana now would not help their situation.
Despite running up losses of £120million over the last three financial accounts, Leicester do not need to sell. Their issues in what has been a frozen transfer window so far have been around squad capacity. They have too many senior players. They have to make room before they can bring in new signings or risk being left with senior players on good wages being left out of the squad and unable to contribute, a prospect that makes no sense in any business model. Selling an asset doesn’t solve a problem.
Selling Fofana or Maddison would open up one space but would dramatically weaken the quality of Rodgers’ squad. Finding a replacement would be a difficult task, especially as head of recruitment Martyn Glover is on gardening leave from Southampton until next month.
Rodgers has said Fofana is not for sale, but the door can never be completely closed in football. There is always a chance, but Chelsea would have to dramatically increase their opening two bids, and there have also been reports in France that Paris Saint-Germain are also interested.
However, Leicester do not want to sell and unless the situation changes dramatically in the next few weeks, they won’t sell.
48m ago
When the second bid for Wesley Fofana from Chelsea landed at Leicester City last week it was rejected immediately — but that is unlikely to be the end of the matter.
Despite Leicester’s inability to move on some of their surplus squad members to create space for new additions, selling Fofana or any of their other young assets, including James Maddison, is just not on the agenda at King Power Stadium.
Less than six months ago, Fofana was handed a new contract until 2027 to reflect his growing status at the club and his emergence as one of the brightest young prospects in the Premier League.
At 21 and with five years left on his contract, Leicester’s valuation of Fofana far exceeds the offer from Chelsea, which The Athletic understands was closer to £60million ($72.8m) than the £70million reported.
The £63million Chelsea recently paid Brighton & Hove Albion for full-back Marc Cucurella has also been noted by Leicester. Manchester City had been linked with the Spaniard all summer but were determined not to spend more than £40million on him.
Leicester knew what they were getting when, after just 30 senior appearances for Saint-Etienne, they paid £35million for Fofana in October 2020. However, he exceeded their expectations in his debut season when he had to be thrown in sooner than Brendan Rodgers had planned. Even a serious leg injury in pre-season a year ago has not stopped his progress, merely delayed it.
The Leicester manager has repeatedly said Fofana will become one of the best defenders in Europe and there is an acceptance he will move onto a bigger club at some stage — but not this summer.
Rodgers has held talks with Fofana about the situation, trying to convince him that his development and ambition to make the France squad for the World Cup in Qatar is better suited at Leicester, where he will play regularly.
Fofana is understood to be keen on a move to Chelsea. His agents probably even more so as it would be a big payday, but besides removing the club’s name from his social media accounts, he has not pushed too hard. He did, however, angle for a move when Leicester were trying to sign him from Saint-Etienne, pleading through L’Equipe.
“From where I come from, the districts north of Marseille and a struggling family, it’s not possible to turn it down,” he told the newspaper. “I would be crazy to say no to Leicester. This contract can change my life. I must protect my family.”
The defender was forced to take himself off social media as he was labelled a mercenary and a traitor by some Saint-Etienne supporters. Even his family suffered abuse.
If he does try to engineer a move, it is a situation Leicester have found themselves in before.
His performances in pre-season and in the opening-day draw with Brentford have been impressive and provided no evidence of any disruption. Fofana was excellent on Sunday, carrying the ball for more yards than any other Leicester player. It was a committed display.
“Outstanding,” was Rodgers’ verdict on the performance. “He was up against a tough opponent (Ivan Toney). He (Toney) is aggressive but I thought Fofana was very good. For someone who is just 21, he was excellent in defending forward and strongly.”
This is familiar territory for Leicester. In fact, it would be more concerning if they didn’t have clubs with greater resources coveting their players, as that would be an indication their model of finding emerging young talent and developing them before they move on was broken.
It has worked previously with N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez and Harry Maguire, and academy graduate Ben Chilwell was also sold for big money. In total, all five were recruited for less than £25million but sold for £250million. More than £110million of that came from Chelsea alone.
Leicester do not want to deter future signings by holding onto ambitious players against their will. The club must be seen as a viable option to help a young player’s development but selling Fofana now would not help their situation.
Despite running up losses of £120million over the last three financial accounts, Leicester do not need to sell. Their issues in what has been a frozen transfer window so far have been around squad capacity. They have too many senior players. They have to make room before they can bring in new signings or risk being left with senior players on good wages being left out of the squad and unable to contribute, a prospect that makes no sense in any business model. Selling an asset doesn’t solve a problem.
Selling Fofana or Maddison would open up one space but would dramatically weaken the quality of Rodgers’ squad. Finding a replacement would be a difficult task, especially as head of recruitment Martyn Glover is on gardening leave from Southampton until next month.
Rodgers has said Fofana is not for sale, but the door can never be completely closed in football. There is always a chance, but Chelsea would have to dramatically increase their opening two bids, and there have also been reports in France that Paris Saint-Germain are also interested.
However, Leicester do not want to sell and unless the situation changes dramatically in the next few weeks, they won’t sell.
. Question is does no really mean no? If so, why are there continuing reports of “talks”. If that means “we want him” and “fuck off” it’s okay but otherwise it suggests we ARE prepared to sell at the “right” price.
