By Nathaniel Kay

'Star in the making': BBC pundit raves about 21-year-old player, after claims Chelsea are interested in signing him

Garth Crooks gave Chelsea even more reason to ramp up their reported intrigue in Wesley Fofana by rewarding the Leicester City defender with a fine review.

Crooks included Fofana in his BBC Team of the Week, thanks to a solid performance against Watford yesterday.

Fantastic Fofana

The young centre-back ensured Roy Hodgson’s side only managed a handful of shots on target, including Joao Pedro’s strike after six minutes.

It was from this solid platform that allowed Leicester to shine down the other end.

James Maddison levelled the scores, before Jamie Vardy marked his return from injury with another goal.

Vardy doubled his tally in the second half, sandwiching Harvey Barnes’ own brace.

Whilst the Foxes’ forwards earned the spotlight, Crooks was quick to give their defender a deserved shout-out.

“Wesley Fofana is a young star in the making,” said the former Tottenham Hotspur striker.  

“The Frenchman played well against Watford and could be the defender Brendan Rodgers looks to build his defence around next season.”

Rodgers will certainly want to assemble his back-line with Fofana firmly at its core.

However, the Leicester boss might have to scrap construction plans due to the attention directed at the talented France under-21 international.

Chelsea flock to Wesley Fofana

Chelsea have apparently set their sights on Fofana, as they prepare for a reshuffle of their own rear-guard.

Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen are on the way out, with Marcos Alonso potentially set to join them.

Thiago Silva limping out of Wembley after the FA Cup final will have given the club’s hierarchy even more reason to recruit reinforcements.

Jules Kounde is still the chain of command’s top choice, with Presnel Kimpembe also recently named as an option.

Both could be extremely costly transfers, especially Kounde, whose £68m (Evening Standard) release clause caused Chelsea some concerns last summer.

Meanwhile, the Blues could snap up Fofana for less than half the price at £30m (Telegraph).

This might well persuade the new owners to chase after Leicester’s 21-year-old gem due to striping back the big and sometimes miscalculated spending overseen by Roman Abramovich.

On paper, the signing of Fofana would certainly be a wise one indeed.

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Nathaniel Kay

Nathaniel is a football journalist who graduated from the University of Derby. He has worked at Burton Albion as part of their media team for two years. Nathaniel produces regular articles for the club’s official website and match-day programme. He covered the 2018 U20 Women’s World Cup in Brittany and has reported from grounds ranging from non-league up to the Premier League.