By Adegboyega Remmy Adeleye

Chelsea have reached a verbal agreement with Leicester City to sign 21-year-old central defender, Wesley Fofana.

Fofana joins on a six-year deal(till 2028) and Chelsea will pay an initial £70 million plus a significant uplift in potential add-ons which could yet see Fofana become the world’s most expensive defender, overtaking the £80m United paid to Leicester for Harry Maguire three seasons ago (in 2019).

Leicester boss Rodgers had recently stated his desire to keep the center-back at the club this summer, with the Foxes rejecting three significant bids for the Frenchman.

The bid is Chelsea’s fourth for the French center-back, having seen an offer of around £60m up-front rejected by the Foxes earlier this week.

Leicester are also understood to have been lining up a replacement for the last few days to allow the deal to go through.

Why Chelsea desperately needs a central defender

The Blues are short of central defenders and need a defensive shape-up after Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen’s summer depatures to Real Madrid and FC Barcelona respectively.

Chelsea’s initial target in the summer was former Sevilla defender, Jules Kounde who chose to join FC Barcelona rather than secure a move to Stamford Bridge. The Blues have since signed Marc Cucurella from Brighton as well as Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli. 

The French man is one of the best young center-backs in European football and with Chelsea’s current setup they can afford to plan for the future with young defenders like Reece James,  Ben Chilwell, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, amongst others.

He joins an experienced defensive setup that features club captain, Cesar Azpilcueta, Thiago Silva, and Kalidou Koulibaly.