(Football news) Chelsea are close to agreeing a deal for France defender Wesley Fofana with Leicester City as the transfer fee is believed to be £70m plus add-ons. The Blues are set to host the Foxes at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with Frenchman already confirmed that he will miss the game because of his transfer speculation. The bid is Chelsea's fourth for the French centre-back, having seen an offer of around £60m rejected by the Foxes earlier this week.

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers confirmed that Fofana, who missed last weekend's defeat to Southampton amid the speculation over his future, would also be unavailable until and unless his future has been sorted out. Fofana desperately wants to move to the Blues and speaking after Leicester's penalty shoot-out victory at Stockport in the Carabao Cup, Rodgers further went on to confirm that the player was training with the U23s after failing to turn up to training last week. Rodgers confirmed that Leicester had rejected a third bid from Chelsea for Fofana and expressed his desire that the situation would be resolved sooner rather than later. A third Chelsea bid for Fofana worth £75m along with £10m add-ons is apparently set to accept the bid this time.

There were few eyebrows raised when the Foxes paid such an exorbitant fee for a 19 year old centre having only paid 20 matches for the French outfit. But that season he really proved his worth as he went on to form a very reliable partnership with Johnny Evans which didn’t let the absence of Harry Maguire affect the team chemistry. Fofana quickly was making headlines and even got selected for the French National team but since then his career trajectory went downhill as he missed majority of last season which subsequently meant that he lost his place to Jules Kounde in France squad.

Chelsea were desperate for a young centre back to partner alongside Thiago Silva and Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana fitted the profile, hence Chelsea owners weren’t afraid of spending the cash. The 21 year old is a hybrid of an old-school and modern day defender and impresses whenever he plays. At 6ft 2in, he is a physical presence in the air and a tough tackler, but his positional play is also excellent and he is confident to play out of the back. Considering the likes of Harry Maguire and Jack Grealish went for much more money with the so-called ‘english tax’ applicable on them, Fofana might actually be a bargain in the future as he has the ability to become a world class player.

"He won't be available for the weekend and has trained with the U23 squad ahead of Saturday's game.I'm not sure [if a deal will get done], my concentration is on the players that we have, and the team. I can't lose energy. If something will be done, it will be done with the clubs. Until that happens we just have to work with what we have." Rodgers told reporters

Rodgers added: "Hopefully [there will be some transfer business done between now and the end of the window]. That would be really good for the team to be able to do that, to improve the squad is always important. But until that changes, we will work with what we have."

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