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Possibly leading the Chelsea defense soon: Wesley Fofana
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ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP
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Chelsea bid record fee for Leicester defender
The transfer window will soon be closing – and Chelsea are not yet finished with their squad planning.
As RMC Sport, “The Athletic” and transfer insider Fabrizio Romano report, the club of German coach Thomas Tuchel is about to sign central defender Wesley Fofana.
The 21-year-old is currently under contract with Premier League rivals Leicester.
According to the reports, the parties have agreed on a transfer fee of around 88 million euros.
No central defender has ever been so expensive.
Harry Maguire holds the previous record.
Manchester United paid around 87 million euros for the defender in 2019.
The releasing club was Leicester at the time.
Fofana arrived from St Etienne for 35 million in the summer of 2020.
He missed much of the pre-season with a broken fibula but performed strongly after his spring comeback.
Most recently, however, Fofana had been banished to the U23s because of coach Brendan Rodgers' transfer theatre.
Ajax rejects €90m offer from Manchester
Brazil winger Antony, 22, wants to leave Ajax Amsterdam for Manchester United.
But there is still no transfer, even if the English are said to have recently offered around 90 million euros.
Antony spoke to Fabrizio Romano about the long transfer poker.
'During the transfer window talks continued and I also received an offer from Ajax to extend my contract.
I made it clear once again: I want to go,” he said.
Antony moved from FC São Paulo to Amsterdam in 2020 for almost 16 million euros.
The next newcomer for Barca?
The heavily indebted Spanish first division club FC Barcelona has not yet completed its planning for the coming season.
As the French »L'Équipe« reports, the Catalans want to sign right-back Hamari Traoré.
The 30-year-old currently plays for the French first division club Stade Rennes.
The transfer of the national player from Mali would probably be comparatively cheap, the transfer fee could be around three million euros, according to reports.
Traore is a regular at Rennes.
Barcelona have been looking for a right-back for a long time, and Dortmund's Thomas Meunier was also repeatedly mentioned in this context.
kjo/dpa/sid