Leicester City's attacking midfielder James Maddison is set to sign a new deal at the club, a decision which could have a huge knock-on affect on Chelsea's chances of signing Wesley Fofana with a second bid likely to be made.
With Marc Cucurella's £63million deal going through on Friday afternoon, the former Brighton star became the fifth signing of the Todd Boehly era behind Carney Chukwuemeka, Gabriel Slonina, Kalidou Koulibaly and Raheem Sterling. It is forecast that £300m could be spent in Boehly's first summer in charge as another central defender, Frenkie de Jong and a further attacking reinforcement amid Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rumours could be on the cards to top off a fruitful transfer window for the interim sporting director.
Amid the latest deal, Thomas Tuchel reserved praise for Boehly his pre-Everton press conference. "But I have nothing but the biggest respect and compliments for both Todd (Boehly) and Behdad (Eghbali).
"I don't know when they sleep, maybe they never sleep. We have a very honest, very open, very direct line of communication and the transfers so far speak for themselves.
READ MORE: Cryptic Wesley Fofana to Chelsea transfer hint dropped as Todd Boehly handed summer boost
"We have a delay, of course. We had the delay because of the sanctions and the sanctions led to the loss of key players (Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen). But like I said, both of the owners are involved in the daily business, they are doing a fantastic job so far and the transfer market speaks for itself."
Work will not stop there with the Cucurella addition and significant moves over the weekend planned for Fofana. football.london understands that a second bid of around £70million will be submitted to the East Midlands club over the next few days.
Brendan Rodgers was adamant initially that the Frenchman would not be sold but had hinted that a few outgoings would need to happen if his side were to become active on the transfer front before September 1.
"Wesley Fofana and James Maddison are not for sale. These are very important players to us," he said in his press conference on Friday. "We’re in a situation where we need to move some players out but that doesn't mean getting rid of anyone, our best assets."
Maddison was expected to be that big money outgoing as Newcastle had two bid rejected with the latest reaching upwards of £50million. Unexpectedly though, in a significant twist of fate, the Foxes' No.11 has done a U-turn which could spell great news for Chelsea.
This is because as per Alex Crook on talkSPORT, the 25-year-old is set to pen a new deal at the King Power Stadium. The key question. now is if this could mean that Fofana is more likely to become that big money sale amid Chelsea becoming 'obsessed' with the potential of signing the defender.
"I'm told that Chelsea will be back with a new bid for Wesley Fofana. Chelsea will push again, they are obsessed with him," transfer guru Fabrizio Romano updated in his latest video. "Gvardiol is not available."
READ NEXT:
Koulibaly in, Sterling starts – the strongest Chelsea side Thomas Tuchel can pick vs Everton
Chelsea news and transfers LIVE: All the latest updates and rumours from Stamford Bridge
Full Chelsea Premier League fixture list for 2022/23
Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea face fresh questions after summer of change
Chelsea troll Brighton with Marc Cucurella transfer announcement as new away kit confirmed
