Paul Merson believes it will be a 'long season' for Leicester City and Brendan Rodgers in the 2022/23 Premier League if they were to eventually sell Wesley Fofana to Chelsea before the September 1 deadline.
football.london understands that new owner Todd Boehly has already had two bids rejected for a player whose actions after both the Brentford and Arsenal game suggest that he himself wants to join Thomas Tuchel's project at Stamford Bridge. But like every Leicester player over the last five years or so, the Foxes are standing firm on their 'not for sale' stance and would only really consider selling the 21-year-old if a world-record bid was to come in.
Boehly could yet pay the £85m asking price but he is seemingly trying all he can to not eclipse the £80m Man United paid for Harry Maguire. These slow negotiations have led to Leicester's number 3 growing ever-more 'frustrated' at the lack of progress being made with Fofana believing that the second bid adding up to around the £70million mark was a fair one. Ahead of gameweek 3, questions have been raised about Fofana's mindset and mentality with the transfer window obviously affecting his body language and manager Rodgers has admitted to 'private' talks being held this week ahead of a big decision being made on the managers' behalf ahead of their latest Premier League fixture against Southampton.
READ MORE: Leicester City's 'ownership' told to make Wesley Fofana transfer move amid £85m Chelsea bid
“I don’t think so far ahead," said Rodgers. "The idea is that he is very much a Leicester player. He’s not for sale. Unless anything changes, I would expect him to be here."
Rodgers acknowledged it was a difficult position for Fofanfa to be in during the transfer window but believes the youngster is handling the situation final. He said: “We’ve spoken numbers of times about the situation. We’ve had private conversations. Our communication is normal.
“It’s a challenge for any player, when the window is open and there is lots of noise, especially for a young player. That’s why we’re here, to help him and educate him and let him deal with all of these rumours. The focus is on the weekend.
“He’s fine. As you can imagine, with the spotlight on you and the talk around what you can earn at another club, it’s a challenge. He’s been brilliant since he arrived here. The club have really stuck by him while he was injured. He’s shown he’s a top young talent. He knows this is an important step for his career."
Rodgers concluded on his decision ahead of the Saints home game: "We are not a team, if the players are not committed to the club, if they are not in the right mindset, that won’t help us. We have to make sure everyone is focused.”
With it still unknown if/when the breakthrough is to be made in talks, Merson has made a worrying prediction on the Foxes' behalf when weighing in with his own view of what he believes needs to happen. Unsurprisingly, he hasn't predicted good things for the Foxes if the World Cup hopeful was to take the risk of making the step up this summer.
"Leicester City are turning out to be a bit hard to predict this season. While they've scored four goals in their first two Premier League games, they've let in six goals, which is a massive problem that could get compounded if Wesley Fofana were to leave before the transfer deadline," he wrote in his latest Sportskeeda column. "If the Frenchman ends up going, it could be a long, long season for Brendan Rodgers and co."
Chelsea fans - is it too late for Todd Boehly to look at transfer alternatives to Wesley Fofana? Is it now boom or bust in the defensive position? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
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