Chelsea have had a third bid for Wesley Fofana potentially worth about £70m rejected by Leicester City and indicated they are willing to pay up to £60m to secure Anthony Gordon from Everton.
Thomas Tuchel has made Fofana his No 1 defensive target and Chelsea could return with a fourth offer before the teams meet at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Fofana was dropped for Leicester’s defeat by Southampton last Saturday, after which Rodgers conceded the player was “not quite in the right frame of mind” to feature.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have reopened negotiations with Everton regarding Gordon after their offer of around £45m was rejected last week. It is understood they are willing to pay up to £60m including significant add-ons for the England under‑21 international, although Frank Lampard is a huge admirer of the boyhood Evertonian, as a player and a personality, and wants to build around Gordon rather than cash in on the academy graduate.
Fofana, who has communicated his desire to depart for Chelsea, missed a training session last week and trained alone on another day. He will now train with Leicester’s development squad.
“The club has invested in him and in his time here he’s been absolutely brilliant,” Rodgers said. “But you have to set a standard of behaviour and if it’s not quite right and your focus isn’t right, that only hurts your teammate.”
Chelsea are in talks with Internazionale over a loan move for the centre‑back Trevoh Chalobah while Spezia have asked for Ethan Ampadu on loan. Fofana has been a revelation since joining from St‑Étienne in a £36.5m deal two years ago, though his impact was limited last season after fracturing his leg in pre-season. Leicester are demanding a larger fee than they received for Harry Maguire, who was sold to Manchester United for £80m. Rodgers said last weekend: “I’ve been in these situations before. My experience helps in these moments.”
Leicester’s only recent signing has been goalkeeper Alex Smithies, a free agent after leaving Cardiff. Rodgers had numerous signings lined up but has been unable to make additions as the club attempt to balance the books. Leicester have a bloated squad and hoped to offload fringe players such as Jannik Vestergaard and Boubakary Soumaré, both of whom joined last summer, to fund signings given financial fair play caps.
