Leicester City head coach Brendan Rodgers has reaffirmed that he has no intention of selling Wesley Fofana to Chelsea this summer.
The Blues have been chasing Fofana for a while now and according to reports personal terms have been agreed between the defender and the club on a six-year deal.
But, Leicester have rejected two offers for the 21-year-old, and while Chelsea are preparing a third, it is likely that they will have to break the transfer record for a defender in order to get the deal done.
Incidentally, that record is the £80m Manchester United paid Leicester for central defender Harry Maguire in 2019.
But in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Rodgers said that he was yet to receive a third bid, saying: ‘There’s nothing new from when we last spoke.
‘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.’
Reports suggest that Fofana wants to leave the King Power but after starting the Foxes opening two games of the campaign, it seems that he is still more than content to play for his current team.
Rodgers has confirmed this but did say that the Frenchman would miss Saturday’s game against Southampton if something changed.
‘We’ve spoken a number of times about the situation. We’ve had private conversations. Our communication is normal,’ the manager added.
‘[I’d be] 100% prepared to take Wesley Fofana out of the squad this weekend is he wasn’t in the right mindset.
‘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.
‘There’s no denying it. It’s always a tricky period. Your season is starting, you’re trying to get focused, and you spend your summer creating this powerful collective unit, and then there is lots of speculation.
‘These are young guys and it’s the first time they have experienced this for some of them. There can be disruption. The idea is to keep the group focused. The minute the window ends, it all ends.’