Wesley Fofana has appeared to wave goodbye to Leicester City supporters ahead of a transfer to Chelsea.
The London side have taken a major step towards signing Fofana by agreeing personal terms with the 24-year-old central defender.
After Leicester’s 4-2 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday, Fofana walked over to the Foxes supporters on his own and applauded them, while all other players were chatting, swapping shirts and embracing.
Chelsea have seen two offers rejected for Fofana but Leicester appear to be softening their stance and would accept a fee around £80m.
Publicly, at least, Leicester maintain the player is not for sale with Rodgers believing Fofana would be better served by staying for another campaign.
Fofana, under contract until 2027, joined Leicester City in 2020 from Saint-Etienne for a £36.5m fee and has played 52 matches for the Foxes across all competitions, helping them win the 2020-21 FA Cup.
Fofana is yet to earn his first cap for the France national team, but has represented the U21 side on five occasions.
He could join Marc Cucurella and Kalidou Koulibaly in west London, who joined the Blues from Brighton and Napoli respectively this summer as Chelsea rebuild their defence under Todd Boehly.
Chelsea saw Antonio Rudiger and Christensen depart earlier in the window, who left for Real Madrid and Barca respectively.
Leicester have already lost Kasper Schmeichel to French side Nice this summer while James Maddison, Jamie Vardy and Tielemans have all been linked with moves away.
Meanwhile, Manchester United are confident they can wrap up a deal to sign Frenkie de Jong next week with Chelsea cooling their interest in the Barcelona player.
The Blues had hoped the incentive of Champions League football this campaign would convince De Jong to opt for a move to Stamford Bridge, but are now setting aside their interest to focus on signing a defender and striker.
