Chelsea’s priority transfer target at centre-back is still Leicester City star Wesley Fofana, despite the links to Manchester United captain Harry Maguire.
That’s according to Fabrizio Romano in the latest edition of his exclusive CaughtOffside column, with the Italian transfer news guru explaining that Thomas Tuchel remains particularly keen on Fofana.
Romano is aware of speculation involving Maguire, but insists that all he’s heard from Chelsea is that Fofana remains their top priority in that area of the pitch.
The Blues could do with a top young defender like Fofana joining them this summer after the blow of both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen leaving when their contracts expired at the end of last season.
A move for Maguire, meanwhile, would be a bit more surprising after his struggles at Man Utd, so perhaps he’ll only be considered as a last-minute Plan B if a deal cannot be completed for Fofana.
Addressing the speculation, Romano wrote: “I’ve been asked a lot about Harry Maguire and those links with Chelsea. My understanding is that, at the moment, Chelsea’s priority is Wesley Fofana. This is the only answer I’m getting from Chelsea during the weekend too, when asking about a new centre-back.
“One alternative idea on the list was Milan Skriniar but Inter Milan have taken him off the market – he is untouchable.
“Chelsea will resume negotiations with the intermediaries of the Fofana deal next week. The player wants Chelsea, there is a six-year contract almost ready in case the clubs find an agreement. The Frenchman remains Thomas Tuchel’s priority for the time being.”
Fofana missed Leicester’s game against Southampton yesterday, with Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers publicly admitting that he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to play.
When asked about the decision by NBC Sports, Rodgers said, as quoted by the Daily Mirror: “One, a change in system and two, I mentioned in the week about coming into a Premier League game and maybe one or two players not being in the right frame of mind, you can’t carry them and certainly we can’t. So that’s the reason for the change.”