Desperate Chelsea eye Aubameyang ready to pay £70m for Fofana

Chelsea are considering an improved offer of £70 million for Wesley Fofana, the Leicester City defender, and are also interested in the Barcelona striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The west London club’s opening offer of £60 million for Fofana was rejected by Leicester, who have made it clear that they want what would be a world-record fee for a defender, a benchmark they set in 2019 when they sold Harry Maguire to Manchester United for £80 million.

Fofana, 21, has been told by Brendan Rodgers, the Leicester manager, that he will not be sold this summer, the understanding being that when he signed a new contract in March, until 2027, he would only be allowed to leave next summer.

Chelsea have been offered the chance to sign Aubameyang by Barcelona, only six months after he left Arsenal.

While Thomas Tuchel, the Chelsea head coach, is open to the idea of being reunited with the striker he coached at Borussia Dortmund, he is more keen for the club to make defensive reinforcements.

With only one day until they kick off their Premier League campaign against Everton at Goodison Park, Chelsea are in need of both a central defender and a consistent goalscorer.

Fofana missed much of last season with a fractured fibula. He joined from Saint-Étienne for £31.5 million in 2020, and the French club are entitled to 20 per cent of any profit made on Fofana, which is driving up Leicester’s asking price.

Chelsea are willing to offer players to Leicester as part of a deal, however the England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek has made clear that he will not be a makeweight.

While Chelsea are expected to announce the £52.5 million signing of Spain left-back Marc Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday, they have struggled to find replacement centre backs since losing Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen as free agents this summer.

They lost out on Jules Koundé, who joined Barcelona, and Presnel Kimpembe, who decided to stay at Paris Saint-Germain. They did, however, sign Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli for £34 million.

Aubameyang scored 11 times in 17 league matches for Barcelona but his future has been thrown into question for several reasons.

The Catalan club signed Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich, which will reduce Aubameyang’s chances of starting, and they also need to sell players and lower their wage bill, having spent £130 million in the transfer market this summer, outbidding Chelsea for both Koundé and Raphinha. 

Barcelona’s problem with Aubameyang is more acute — they will have to pay him more money this season than last because Arsenal in effect subsidised his wages for the first six months in paying him £7 million to terminate his £350,000-a-week contract in January.

However, César Azpilicueta has signed a new contract at Chelsea until 2024, ending Barcelona’s attempt to sign him. Chelsea refused to sanction a sale and offered their club captain a new two-year deal. However, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Marcos Alonso all want to leave the club, and there are questions over Christian Pulisic. Youngster Levi Colwill has agreed a loan move to Brighton.