Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed the club have rejected a third Chelsea bid for defender Welsey Fofana.
Chelsea have been continuing talks with Leicester over a deal, but a fresh offer has now been shunned by the Foxes.
Leicester have been sticking firm to a price tag of at least £80m for the France Under-21 international, who has made it clear to Rodgers and the club that he wants to move to west London.
However, Chelsea’s latest offer or around £70m is still substantially below Leicester’s expectations and the Foxes are still not prepared to sell at the figure.
The situation has moved on though, with Rodgers confirming that the club have also demoted Fofana to training with their Under-23 side after he missed a session last week – which had already resulted in him being dropped for their Premier League loss to Southampton at the weekend.
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Speaking after their narrow Carabao Cup win over League Two side Stockport County, Rodgers explained the situation regarding the new bid and Fofana’s status.
“We’ve received one fresh bid for Fofana and it has been turned down,” Rodgers said. “He is training with the Under-23s after failing to turn up to a training session last week.”
Leicester will return to Premier League action when they travel to the capital on Saturday to face none other than Chelsea, with Fofana still unlikely to be involved.
The summer transfer window closes for Premier League clubs on 1 September.