‘Special’ £36.5m defender undergoes medical ahead of Leicester move

Wesley Fofana, Neymar TEAMtalk

Saint-Etienne defender Wesley Fofana is to complete medical tests in Germany today ahead of a move to Leicester City, reports claim.

The 19-year-old centre-half has been on the Foxes‘ radar throughout this transfer window and now L’Equipe (via Inside Futbol) claims that the youngster is undergoing assessment  as he prepares for the move to England.

Inside Futbol claims that the medical is taking place in Germany due to current coronavirus restrictions in the UK.

Saint-Etienne revealed on Tuesday that they had agreed a £36.5million deal for the Frenchman after the Ligue 1 outfit had rejected three previous bids from the 2016 Premier League champions.

The teenager, who was also a target of West Ham, is reportedly set to sign a five-year deal with the club, keeping him at the King Power Stadium until 2025.

Fofana has played 30 senior games for Saint-Etienne, scoring on two occasions, and now he will leave for a club-record fee.

The youngster has revealed that he always “dreamed” of playing in England, which was a factor in his decision to move to Leicester.

Fofana “one of the best young centre-backs in Europe”

Idriss Saadi, Wesley Fofana

Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol told The Transfer Show that The Foxes fought off interest from AC Milan to gain the signature of Fofana, who he described as a real talent.

“”He’s a very good player and is supposed to be one of the best young centre-backs in Europe but he’s only played 14 league games for Saint-Etienne,” he said.

“He really has developed under Claude Puel, the former Leicester manager.  What is interesting is that lots of other clubs were interested in him, including AC Milan and West Ham.

“The latter made an offer last week that in total came to £33m but we were told that the offer was always unlikely to succeed because of the payment terms West Ham were proposing.

“They were only going to offer €4m up front and they were going to pay the rest in instalments. The offer Leicester have put together is much more attractive.

“Fofana is a young centre-back who really can develop into something special. Sources at Saint-Etienne say he is going to become one of the stars of French football and now he’s going to do that at Leicester.”

Leicester lead the way in the Premier League table after last weekend’s 5-2 win over Manchester City.