Even if Chelsea fans have gained some hope from Wesley Fofana taking Leicester City out of his Twitter bio on Tuesday afternoon, the playing field over his potential transfer remains the same.
Leicester will demand a huge fee from Todd Boehly to get the French defender out of the King Power Stadium this year. The Foxes know his worth and also are well aware of Chelsea's growing desperation in this window to secure another defender after the signing of Kalidou Koulibaly last month.
Talks of a world-record fee for a defender are already being touted, or at the very least, getting close to the £85m Manchester United paid for Harry Maguire in 2019.
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Spending this sheer amount on any player is daunting. For Chelsea, it's dangerous territory.
Chelsea fans have come accustomed to landmark deals going horribly wrong. Just look at Romelu Lukaku for £97m and Kepa Arrizabalaga for £71m. Both players are likely to end this window out on loan in Italy, a stark reflection of how those transfers turned out.
With Fofana, you are also dealing with a young player, one who has recently recovered from a leg break that kept him out for the majority of last season. It is a leap of faith over potential and hope he can develop into the player many across football think he can become.
The best reference point for justifying such an expense would be the £71m deal for Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen in 2020. Havertz had quickly ascended to one of the Bundesliga's most admired young talents, holding an invaluable status for his club and quickly attracting interest from football's biggest names.
To sign Havertz for such a fee was a commitment to a project over a number of years, a talent Chelsea would hope to see reach even greater heights. You could already argue his initial fee was repaid in Porto when the forward netted the winning goal in a Champions League final.
Now under Tuchel, Havertz can begin to find that much-needed consistency and showcase the ability that is quite clearly there heading into his third season.
Spending potentially over £100m on two defenders this summer does not feel like great business, especially when you consider the amount of young talent birthed at Cobham sold off the previous summer. And even now, the concept of selling Levi Colwill becoming a reality further calls into question the club's strategy.
But time is limited in this window, and Fofana would hopefully offer a good addition for Thomas Tuchel now, but one Chelsea can see the value of in many years to come.
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