Chelsea may have to break transfer world record for defender to sign Leicester's Wesley Fofana

Chelsea remain in talks with Leicester City over Wesley Fofana, despite the Midland club's insistence the defender is not for sale.

It is understood that Chelsea have made it clear they would be willing to pay over £70 million, with Leicester thought to value the player at over £80m.

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has publicly reiterated the fact that Fofana is not for sale, having already rejected one proposal, but that has not put off Chelsea.

Some sources claim Fofana is interested in moving to Stamford Bridge and Chelsea have not been discouraged to the point where they have stepped back from talks, which would suggest they are still hopeful an agreement could be struck.

It may well be that Chelsea have to make Fofana the most expensive defender in the world to sign the Frenchman this month. The current record is the £80m Manchester United paid Leicester for Harry Maguire.

Chelsea, under their new Todd Boehly-Clearlake ownership, have signalled their intent to spend big having signed Marc Cucurella in a deal that could be worth as much as £62m.

Cucurella is eligible to play against Everton in his new club's first Premier League match of the season on Saturday after Chelsea confirmed the deal and took a good-humoured swipe at Brighton & Hove Albion in the process.

Levi Colwill has joined Brighton on loan, but, announcing Cucurella’s arrival, Chelsea took aim at their Premier League rivals.

On Wednesday night, Brighton issued a statement saying that: "Contrary to inaccurate reports from numerous media outlets this evening, no agreement has been reached with any club to sell Marc Cucurella."

That was despite negotiations being well advanced, with Chelsea responding in kind as they announced the deal was done, issuing a statement of their own saying: "Following reports from numerous media outlets this week, we can confirm an agreement has been reached with Brighton and Hove Albion for the signing of Marc Cucurella."

The deal agreed for the left-sided defender is worth £55m plus £7m in add-ons as Cucurella becomes the third major signing for Chelsea this summer, after Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly.