Chelsea in ‘advanced talks’ to sell star this week as final victim of summer fire sale emerges

Chelsea striker David Datro Fofana is reportedly in advanced talks to join Greek side AEK Athens ‘in the next 48 hours’ and two other Blues stars are still in limbo.

The 21-year-old is one of several Chelsea players who was made available for transfer by the club over the summer as he doesn’t figure in Enzo Maresca’s long-term plans.

According to Football Insider, Chelsea ‘hope to offload’ Fofana to AEK Athens before the Greek transfer window closes on Wednesday and negotiations between the clubs have ‘stepped up’ in the last two days.

A transfer fee is yet to be fully agreed upon, but the report claims that Chelsea ‘will receive less than the £8.4m they paid to sign Fofana from Molde in 2021’ but they are ‘hopeful that add-ons being triggered will lead to them making a profit.’

Fofana’s exit will leave Maresca with Nicolas Jackson, Joao Felix and youngster Marc Guiu to choose from as his natural striker options.

Chelsea were keen to sign a new striker in the summer but ultimately missed out on top target Victor Osimhen after negotiations collapsed in the final hours of deadline day.

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Chelsea close to agreeing David Datro Fofana exit

As we exclusively revealed on Wednesday, Chelsea have already rejected AEK Athens’ opening offer for Fofana but Football Insider’s report suggests the sides are set to reach an agreement imminently.

Sources also informed TEAMtalk that Everton had held talks with Chelsea regarding a potential move for Fofana.

We understand that a swap deal involving Dominic Calvert-Lewin and a loan for Fofana was spoken about, but the Toffees ultimately decided not to pursue the youngster.

Everton ultimately signed Armando Broja from Chelsea on a season-long loan instead. They have the option to buy the Albanian for £30m at the end of the season.

Fofana now looks set to join AEK, who will be hoping to lift the Greek Super League title this season and have a solid Europa Conference League campaign.

Chelsea still keen to offload three defenders

Fofana is just one of the many Chelsea players who was deemed surplus to requirements by the club’s hierarchy. The Blues managed to generate £147m.4 from player sales this summer – the most of any club in Europe.

They parted ways with Conor Gallagher, Romelu Lukaku, Ian Maatsen, Omari Hutchinson and seven others to try and offset the £220m spent on new additions.

But there are still a few players left in limbo that aren’t in Maresca’s plans that we understand Chelsea will happily sell whenever they get the chance.

Sources have previously revealed to us that defenders Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi would be sold for the right price, along with left-back Ben Chilwell.

It looks like Chelsea will have to wait until January to sell those three players, but Fofana looks set to depart the Blues in the next 48 hours if Football Insider’s report is correct.

Fofana showed positive glimpses at Burnley

Fofana was considered one of the most promising young strikers in Europe when he joined Chelsea in 2021 but has never lived up to his potential at Stamford Bridge.

The Ivorian international made four appearances for the Blues in the 2022/23 season before being loaned out to Union Berlin for the first half of last season, and then to Burnley from January onwards.

Fofana did put in a couple of impressive performances during his time at Burnley and scored four goals in 15 appearances for the Clarets.

He will hope to build on that experience with AEK but it does come as somewhat of a shock to see a player with seemingly high potential to leave Europe’s biggest stage so early in his career.

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