Chelsea look to Greece to trim squad with David Fofana exit deemed imminent

Chelsea are looking to leagues with extended transfer windows as they attempt to trim the numbers at the club, with David Datro Fofana reportedly at the head of the leavers’ queue.

The striker is now said to be close to sealing a move to AEK Athens with the Greek transfer window remaining open until 11 September.

Daily Mail transfer tracker Kieran Gill claims that talks are ongoing to clinch Fofana’s move to the Greek capital.

Gill wrote on X: “Chelsea still working on outgoings before other windows close.

“David Datro Fofana to AEK Athens is alive, talks [are] ongoing. Harvey Vale, Alex Matos, Deivid Washington, [and] Ben Chilwell [are] available for sale/loan. Greece, Turkey, Belgium etc open for business.”

Fofana joined Chelsea from Norwegian club Molde in January of 2023 but has since been farmed out on loan twice.

He spent six months on loan at Union Berlin before another six month spell at Burnley gave him valuable Premier League experience.

He is contracted to the Blues until 2029 and it is unclear if they are intent on selling the Ivorian attacker or simply giving him another loan spell away from Stamford Bridge.

Prospective spells in the Championship with Sunderland or back in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim were on the table on deadline day but fell apart, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

AEK Athens are engaging in an aggressive recruitment campaign as they seek to go one better than their second-place finish in the Greek top flight last season.

The club are rumoured to have offered to make Anthony Martial their highest-paid player in a bid to rejuvenate their strikeforce and keep pace with the likes of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos.

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Fofana is Chelsea player closest to an exit

Chelsea have several players they want to offload but it seems that Fofana’s departure is the most imminent.

Romano also confirmed the possibility of a move to Greece for Fofana before the strong links to AEK Athens emerged

Talking to X, Romano claimed: “David Datro Fofana still expected to leave Chelsea in the next days.

“Turkey, Greece, Portugal, Saudi and Holland among markets being explored to pick best option.

“Hoffenheim and Sunderland opened talks to sign Datro on Deadline Day but negotiations collapsed.”

Fofana has made just one Premier League start for Chelsea and that ended with him being substituted at half time during a 1-0 defeat at home to Southampton in February 2023.

He hasn’t hit any great goalscoring form during his loan spells but gained valuable Champions League experience at Union Berlin and enjoyed 879 minutes of top-flight football with Burnley during the second half of last season.

Fofana debuted for Ivory Coast’s senior team as a 16-year-old but since moving to Europe he hasn’t often been considered for international duty.

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