‘I get it coach’: Chelsea signing takes swipe at former boss after $80m move: PL Done Deals

‘I get it coach’: Chelsea signing takes swipe at former boss after $80m move: PL Done Deals

One of the biggest sagas of the Premier League transfer window has finally come to an end, with Chelsea announcing the signing of defender Wesley Fofana from Leicester City on Wednesday.

Speculation over this deal has been going on for what feels like forever, with the Foxes reportedly knocking back multiple bids from their Premier League rivals.

Fofana agreed to a seven-year contract with Chelsea, who will reportedly pay up to £70 million ($81.3 million) for the French centre-back.

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The 21-year-old was left out of the Leicester team by boss Brendan Rodgers once Chelsea’s interest became public, fuelling a bitter transfer saga that lasted for several weeks.

Partly as a result of Fofana’s absence, Leicester have slumped to the bottom of the Premier League, leading Rodgers to make some critical comments about unsettled player destabilising his squad.

But once he’d put pen to paper with the English giants, Fofana took to social media to hit back at these comments.

“It’s time to say goodbye,” Fofana wrote on Instagram.

“During these two seasons here. I have probably experienced the most intense moments of my young football career. I have grown as a player but also as a man.

“Thank you to you, Foxes fans, for your kindness and your constant support, even in the moment you were led to believe I didn’t respect the club. I will never forget how we vibrated, exulted or cried, together… I will never forget you.

“I chose not to communicate during this transfer window despite all the criticism and all the often false and misleading comments, even when they were coming from the club. I understood and I learned.

“I thank Top (Srivaddhanaprabha, chairman) for his understanding, thanks to the managers, to the coach who has always appreciated me, even if he chose to expose me a lot lately. I get it coach.

“There were ups and downs but I never cheated, you can be sure of that. Thank you to all the people who work here every day, you are the soul of this club!

“Finally, thanks to my teammates, my brothers, the Foxes soldiers. We’ll meet again, on a football field or somewhere else.”

Fofana will be a key addition for Chelsea after the departures of centre-backs Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen to Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The Frenchman made 52 appearances for the Foxes after completing a move to the club from Saint-Etienne in October 2020, for a reported fee of £32 million.

Fofana started for Leicester City in their FA triumph last year, beating Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley, courtesy of a Youri Tielemans second-half strike.

Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly has praised Fofana after the defender completed his move to Stamford Bridge, describing him as a “hugely promising defender”.

“Wesley is a hugely promising defender who has already proven his quality in the Premier League at a young age,” Boehly said.

“We are delighted we were able to bring one of Europe’s most exciting talents to Chelsea and further strengthen that area of our squad, both for this season and many more to come”.

After starting their season with a 1-0 win against Everton at Goodison Park, Chelsea have struggled for wins this season.

The Blues have won just one of their four matches since their season opener, which was a 2-1 win at home against Fofana’s old club Leicester City.

But a 2-1 defeat at Southampton earlier this week underlined Chelsea’s problems and their spending might not be over yet.

Thomas Tuchel’s side remain linked with former Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is currently playing with Barcelona.

WHEN DOES THE DEADLINE CLOSE?

The English transfer window – both for Premier League teams and lower divisions – ends at 11pm BST (8am Friday AEST). It is the same in Spain, while Scotland’s window closes one hour later at 9am AEST.

The first window to shut is Germany, which closes at 2am AEST. Italy’s shuts at 4am AEST, and France’s closes at 9am AEST.

However, deals can be concluded after the deadline – up to two hours after the Premier League deadline, so long as both clubs have submitted a ‘deal sheet’ to authorities in the final two hours of the window. They are then granted extra time to finalise contract details.

Clubs can also sign free agents – players without a club – after the deadline shuts.

TEN HAG GETS HIS MAN

After a disastrous start to their Premier League season, Manchester United made sure to add at least one more world class player to their ranks before the end of the transfer window.

The Red Devils lost their first two matches of the new season, slumping to last on the ladder, but have turned their fortunes around over the past few weeks.

A 2-1 win at home against rivals Liverpool lifted some pressure of new manager Erik ten Hag, and they went on to win again four days later against Southampton.

United signed five-time Champions League winner Casemiro from Real Madrid last week, and he’ll be joined by another Brazil international who has joined the club.

The English giants have reportedly spent around €100 million ($144m AUD) to lure Brazil international Antony to Old Trafford from Ajax.

Brazilian midfielder Antony is the latest big name player to join Manchester United. (Photo by MAURICE VAN STEEN / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUTSource: AFP

After scoring 31 goals in 134 appearances for both Ajax and Sao Paulo, Antony has become the second most expensive signing in the history of the famous club.

But some experts have questioned whether it’s the right move, with football reporter Alex Crook describing the move as “desperate”.

“That was the information I got this afternoon, that talks were progressing positively between Manchester United and Ajax, as I guess they would be when United are willing to spend £84 million on a player who surely they could’ve got for a fraction of that earlier in the window,” Crook told The Transfer Hub on talkSPORT.

“Clubs know that Manchester United, after their poor start to the season… are getting desperate and therefore the price has gone up.

“I think he’s a good player by the way so I don’t think we should hold the price tag against Antony, but I think it’s a lot of money who’s only really proven in the Dutch league.

“Erik ten Hag is finally going to get one of his long term targets.”

WOLVES SIGN ‘TALENTED’ FORWARD

Wolves have announced the signing of Austrian striker Sasa Kalajdzic, who joins the club after a successful two year stint in Germany’s Bundesliga.

Kalajdzic is definitely a much needed signing for Wolverhampton, who are still yet to win a game this season and have only scored two goals from five games.

The 25-year-old has represented his country 15 times, and was VfB Stuttgart’s leading scorer in both of their last two full Bundesliga seasons.

Wolves technical director Scott Sellars is eager to see what the new signing can do for Wolves this season.

“We are very happy to secure the signing of Sasa, who is a talented young striker, has many excellent attributes to his game and fits the profile that we have been looking for this summer,” Sellars told Wolves’ website.

“Sasa has had great success in Germany’s Bundesliga, and we are looking forward to seeing what he can do in the Premier League”.

Kalajdzic will wear the number 18 jersey for Wolves.

EVERY CLUBS’ SIGNINGS

Arsenal

Marquinhos – Sao Paulo – £3.15m

Fabio Vieira – Porto – £31.5m

Matt Turner – NE Revolution – £5.73m

Gabriel Jesus – Manchester City – £47m

Oleksandr Zinchenko – Manchester City – £31.5m

Aston Villa

Philippe Coutinho – Barcelona – £18m

Boubacar Kamara – Marseille – Free

Diego Carlos – Sevilla – £27.9m

Robin Olsen – Roma – £3.15m

Rory Wilson – Rangers – £407k

Ludwig Augustinsson – Sevilla – Loan – £450k

Ewan Simpson – Hearts – £290k

Bournemouth

Ryan Fredericks – West Ham – Free

Joe Rothwell – Blackburn – Free

Marcus Tavernier – Middlesbrough – £10.71m

Neto – Barcelona – Free

Marcos Senesi – Feyenoord – £13.5m

Brentford

Max Dickov – Unknown – Undisclosed

Max Wilcox – Bolton – Free

Aaron Hickey – Bologna – £14.85m

Keane Lewis-Potter – Hull – £17.1m

Kyreece Lisbie – Watford U18s – Free

Thomas Strakosha – Lazio – Free

Yehor Yarmoliuk – Dnipro – Undisclosed

Ben Mee – Burnley – Free

Michael Olakigbe – Fulham –

Lucias Vine – Aldershot – Free

Isaac Holland – Sheffield Wednesday – Undisclosed

Mikkel Damsgaard – Sampdoria – £13.50m

Mathias Jorgensen – Fenerbahce S.K. – Free

Brighton

Julio Enciso – Libertad Asuncion – £10.44m

Benicio Baker-Boaitey – Porto – Undisclosed

Simon Adingra – Nordsjaelland – £7.2m

Imari Samuels – Reading – Free

Levi Colwill – Chelsea – Loan

Luca Barrington – Manchester City – Undisclosed

Pervis Estupinan – Villarreal – £16m

Chelsea

Eddie Beach – Southampton – Undisclosed

Raheem Sterling – Manchester City – £50.58m

Kalidou Koulibaly – Napoli – £34.2m

Omari Hutchinson – Arsenal – Free

Gabriel Slonina – Chicago Fire – £8.18m

Carney Chukwuemeka – Aston Villa – £16.2m

Marc Cucurella – Brighton – £58.77m

Cesare Casadei – Inter Milan – £13.5m

Wesley Fofana – Leicester – £70m

Crystal Palace

Malcolm Ebiowei – Derby – Free

Sam Johnstone – West Brom – Free

Cheick Doucoure – Lens – £20.34m

Cormac Austin – Linfield – Undisclosed

Chris Richards – Bayern Munich – £10.8m

Kofi Balmer – Larne – £3oo

Everton

James Tarkowski – Burnley – Free

Ruben Vinagre – Sporting Lisbon – Loan

Dwight McNeil – Burnley – Undisclosed

Conor Coady – Wolves – Loan

Amadou Onana – Lille – £32.4m

Neal Maupay – Brighton – Undisclosed

Fulham

Joao Palhinha – Sporting Lisbon – £18m

Kristian Sekularac – Juventus – Free

Callum McFarlane – Unknown – Free

Andreas Pereira – Manchester United – £8.55m

Manor Solomon – Shakhtar Donetsk – Loan

Kevin Mbabu – Wolfsburg – £4.95m

Bernd Leno – Arsenal – £3.24m

Shane Duffy – Brighton – Loan

Issa Diop – West Ham – £16m

Leeds United

Brenden Aaronson – RB Salzburg – £29.56m

Ramus Kristensen – RB Salzburg – £11.7m

Marc Roca – Bayern Munich – £10.8m

Darko Gyabi – Manchester City – £5.22m

Tyler Adams – RB Leipzig – £15.3m

Luis Sinisterra – Feyenoord – £22.5m

Sonny Perkins – West Ham – Free

Joel Robles – Real Betis – Free

Leicester City

Alex Smithies – Cardiff – Free

Liverpool

Fabio Carvalho –Fulham – £5.31m

Darwin Nunez – Benfica – £67.5m

Calvin Ramsay – Aberdeen – £4.41m

Erling Haaland scored another hat trick for his new club on Thursday morning (AEST). (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Manchester City

Erling Haaland – Dortmund – £54m

Stefan Ortega Moreno – Arminia Bielefeld – Free

Kalvin Phillips – Leeds – £43.87m

Sergio Gomez – Anderlecht – £11.7m

Manchester United

Tyrell Malacia – Feyenoord – £13.5m

Christian Eriksen – Brentford – Free

Lisandro Martinez – Ajax – £51.63m

Casemiro – Real Madrid – £63.59m

Antony – Ajax – €100m

Newcastle United

Alex Murphy – Galway United – £100k

Nick Pope – Burnley – £10.35m

Matt Targett – Aston Villa – £15.75m

Sven Botman – Lille – £33.3m

Charlie McArthur – Kilmarnock –

Jude Smith – East Fife – Undisclosed

Alexander Isak – Real Sociedad – £63m

Nottingham Forest

Ryan Hammond – Milwall – Free

Taiwo Awoniyi – Union Berlin – £18.45m

Dean Henderson – Manchester United – Loan

Giulian Biancone – Troyes – £9m

Moussa Niakhate – Mainz – £9m

Omar Richards – Bayern Munich – £7.65m

Neco Williams – Liverpool – £18m

Wayne Hennessey – Burnley – Free

Brandon Aguilera – Alajuelense – £855k

Harry Toffolo – Huddersfield – £2.16m

Lewis O’Brien – Huddersfield – £8.46m

Jesse Lingard – Manchester United – Free

Orel Mangala – Stuggart – £11.7m

Emmanuel Dennis – Watford – £13.32m

Cheikhou Kouyate – Crystal Palace – Free

Remo Freuler – Atalanta – £8.1m

Morgan Gibbs-White – Wolves – £26.55m

Renan Lodi – Atletico Madrid – Loan

Southampton

Alex Iwumene – Sutton – Undisclosed

Gavin Bazunu – Manchester City – £12.6m

Mateusz Lis – Altay – Free

Armel Bella-Kotchap – Bochum – £9m

Romeo Lavia – Manchester City – £11.07m

Joe Aribo – Rangers – £6.39m

Sekou Mara – Bordeaux – £11.7m

Tottenham Hotspur

Ivan Perisic – Inter Milan – Free

Fraser Forster – Southampton – Free

Yves Bissouma – Brighton – £26.28m

Richarlison – Everton – £52.2m

Tyrell Ashcroft – Reading – Undisclosed

Josh Keeley – St Patrick’s Athletic – Free

Clement Lenglet – Barcelona – Loan

Djed Spence – Middlesbrough – £13.23m

Destiny Udogie – Udinese – 16.2m

Cristian Romero – Atalanta – £50m

Will Lankshear – Sheffield United – £1.20m

West Ham United

Nayef Aguerd – Rennes – £31.5m

Alphonse Areola – PSG – £8.37m

Patrick Kelly – Coleraine – £500k

Flynn Downes – Swansea – £9.59m

Gianluca Scamacca – Sassuolo – £32.4m

Maxwel Cornet – Burnley – £18.63m

Thilo Kehrer – PSG – £10.8m

Emerson – Chelsea – £11.7m

Lucas Paqueta – Lyon – Undisclosed

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Nathan Collins – Burnley – £21.87m

Goncalo Guedes – Valencia – £29.34m

Matheus Nunes – Sporting Lisbon – £40.5m

Sasa Kalajdzic – Stuggart – £15.5m

Hee-chan Hwang – RB Leipzic – £15.03m