Chelsea pull out of Fofana deal

Chelsea have pulled the plug on their bid to sign Wesley Fofana after Leicester City threw out a THIRD bid worth £70million including add-ons.

SunSport understands Thomas Tuchel, who was desperate to land the 21-year-old French sensation, will now turn his attention to alternative targets.

Frustrated Chelsea chiefs feel the Foxes have priced Fofana out of his dream move after digging in for a joint world record fee of £85million for their star defender.

Even the big spending Blues – bankrolled by ambitious new owner Todd Boehly – believe that’s way too rich for a 21-year-old.

He also missed half of last season with a leg break and has played fewer than 40 Premier League games.

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Chelsea were prepared to offer £60million with a further £10million in add-ons.

However, Leicester felt the incentives were far from realistic and refused to budge.

It had been speculated that the Foxes were willing to offload Fofana, after Brendan Rodgers made him watch Saturday’s defeat at home to Southampton, from a seat in the main stand.

That seems to have sparked Chelsea’s latest take-it-or-leave-it final bid.

However, the Stamford Bridge negotiators were stunned to find the Foxes refused to budge and were in fact doubling-down on their original valuation.

Leicester have gained a reputation as battle-hardened negotiators in recent years.

They successfully held out and received a world record £85million for Harry Maguire when Manchester United buckled and met their price in 2019.
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