Wesley Fofana is “not for sale,” according to Brendan Rodgers, after Leicester City turned down Chelsea’s £60 million deal for the French defender.
Prior to the transfer deadline, Blues manager Thomas Tuchel is eager to improve his defensive options and has approved a high-profile signing for Foxes star Fofana.
Chelsea’s initial offer was rejected by Leicester, but the west London club is presently putting together an enhanced offer of about £70 million.
At the King Power Stadium in March, Fofana agreed to a new contract that would keep him with the team through the summer of 2027.
This summer, Leicester turned down a bid for England midfielder James Maddison, and manager Brendan Rodgers reaffirmed the club’s intention to maintain both Maddison and Fofana.
In his Friday afternoon pre-game presser, Rodgers declared: “These players are not for sale.” These players are crucial to us.
We need to move some players out of the way, but that doesn’t imply we should get rid of everyone, especially not our finest players.
Chelsea spent roughly £33 million on Senegal center-back Kalidou Koulibaly earlier in the summer before finalizing a £60 million move for Brighton left-back Marc Cucurella on Friday.
But before the summer transfer market shuts on September 1, the Blues, who placed third in the Premier League last season, are still interested in acquiring a new defender.
Tuchel suggested that his Chelsea players might not be prepared for their Premier League debut against Everton after their 4-0 preseason friendly loss to Arsenal.
When questioned about his remarks during the pre-game press conference, Tuchel responded, “We are moving on now. It was unquestionably required.
Perhaps it was also important for us to lose that game against Arsenal, a formidable opponent in the league that is attempting to unseat us.
“Perhaps it served as a wake-up call for everyone. Since then, we’ve taken action. You always experience a new focus, new excitement, and a new degree of attention in training during the final week before the season.
Legs are now more supple than they were before our training in Florida. Although we are still not where we should be, we feel prepared and competitive for tomorrow.
The atmosphere is back to where it was before the Arsenal game, similar to the opening weeks of preseason, after a very good training week thus far. We thus lost our motivation for the Arsenal game.
We needed time to recover after that, but last week went well, and we feel prepared for tomorrow. It’s crucial to maintain attention and go slowly over the first week.
“We used the opportunity to plan the entire week around Saturday, nothing else.” Where we are is here.