Chelsea: Wesley Fofana saga could run to transfer deadline as Brendan Rodgers confirms stance for weekend game

Wesley Fofana will not play for Leicester against Chelsea this weekend as Brendan Rodgers suggested he was willing to wait out the transfer window despite his player’s request to leave.

The Blues have seen three bids rejected by Leicester for Fofana, who is thought to be concerned that the Foxes are pricing him out of a move to Stamford Bridge.

The two teams meet on Saturday afternoon and, for the third game in a row, the French defender will sit out his team’s match.

Rodgers told reporters on Thursday: “He won’t be available for the weekend. He has trained with our Under-21 squad.”

The Leicester boss hinted that only when the window closes on September 1 will Fofana be brought back into the squad. Therefore, the saga looks set to run on until either Chelsea meet his price tag, look elsewhere, or the deadline passes.

“I’m not sure,” Rodgers added on the prospect of a fourth bid. “That’s not my concentration.

“I can’t lose energy thinking so much about it. It’ll be between the clubs. We have to continue to work with what we have.”

Leicester have form in selling their star defenders with Ben Chilwell and Harry Maguire both leaving for big fees in recent years.

“It was totally different,” Rodgers said of the Maguire sale.

“I was aware over the course of the summer that that could happen. Harry in terms of his behaviour and his focus for the club, he was fantastic right until the last minute, then he moved on. It was different. Our focus is with the team.”