Brendan Rodgers did his best to reaffirm Leicester City's stance on Wesley Fofana on Sunday evening. The 21-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to Chelsea over the last few days as the Blues turn their attention elsewhere after missing out on Jules Kounde.
football.london reported on Wednesday that Chelsea were about to enter talks with Fofana and his entourage over a possible switch to Stamford Bridge. The Frenchman recently signed a new long-term contract with Leicester until 2027 – making any deal this summer that little bit more complicated and expensive for Chelsea.
Chelsea believe Fofana has all of the ingredients to develop into a world-class player in the future, having been very impressed since he made the move from Saint-Etienne to Leicester in 2020. His manager, Rodgers, was quick to play down any speculation over Fofana's future on Sunday evening.
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"Naturally, he's a top talent," Rodgers said on Fofana. "He's not for sale. He still has lots of improvements to make. He's very happy here, he really enjoys being here.
"Naturally, he will attract the interest of other clubs. Our job in not signing anyone so far is to at least keep the players we have. I know that's the intention of the club."
Chelsea will remember similar comments from Rodgers around two years ago regarding the sale of Ben Chilwell. The Northern Irishman insisted the England left-back was not for sale, but a month after his comments, Chelsea sealed the £45million signing of the now 25-year-old.
Back in July 2020, Rodgers said this on Chilwell: "He's a Leicester City player and not a player we want to lose. I'm quite relaxed on it. I'm not worried at all. We've got a fantastic squad, a squad we want to keep together.
"There's no intention to sell Ben Chilwell, and there's absolutely no need to sell. So the message is he's not for sale – it's as simple as that."
This, of course, does not mean that Leicester will sell Fofana. The point is: that managers often say their star players are not for sale, but what else are they expected to say? In a very rare case, a manager will admit to the supporters that one of their best players is set to leave the club.
The indication right now is that Leicester will not negotiate any deal for Fofana unless £80m is proposed. The Foxes sold Harry Maguire to Manchester United for that price in the summer of 2019 and value Fofana around the same – if not, higher, than their former centre-back.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are also interested in signing Inter Milan defender Denzel Dumfries. The Italian club need to raise funds this summer if they are to sign anyone else and could be open to selling Dumfries.
Chelsea want a right-wing-back to provide cover to Reece James, whose 2021/22 season was riddled with injury problems. Dumfries could be that man, and it helps that he has also played as a right centre-back before.
Other central defender options are Josko Gvardiol, Milan Skriniar and Presnel Kimpembe. RB Leipzig does not want to sell the highly-rated Gvardiol but could be tempted into business if a big-money offer arrives at the table.
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