One of the big moves for Leicester City during the transfer window was securing the services of Wesley Fofana from AS Saint-Etienne.
The young French defender was seen as one of the more exciting prospects in Europe in his role, and despite Claude Puel strongly opposing the sale, the Ligue 1 side eventually gave in and let the 19-year-old travel to England.
They made a huge profit along the way, getting €35m up front and a potential €5m in bonuses on top of that, but all this came at a price: breaking their promises.
This is what But! Football Club journalist Laurent Hess said on Tuesday, recalling what one of the directors had earlier this year about Fofana’s future.
He said: “ASSE have just transferred Fofana to Leicester for €35m + €5m. That’s despite Roland Romeye promising in the spring, when the player renewed, that the club would keep their bet youngsters thus summer. An empty promise. Leicester’s offer was too enticing. One year after the €30m from William Saliba’s transfer to Arsenal, Fofana’s sale allowed them to fill up the coffers.
“They sorely needed it, because even if the board pat themselves on the back for presenting positive bank accounts to the DNCG for the 10th year in a row, they’ve still had to get two bank loans over the past two years. To pay them back, the duo Romeyer-Caïazzo therefore turn to the academy starlets”.
A lot of the pressure to sell Fofana also came from the player himself, who went out of his way to make it known publicly how badly he wanted the move, never hiding his ambitions of earning more money to help his family.
The move also was a step forward in his career, but he never once tried to downplay the financial aspect of it either.
