Wesley Fofana wanted to join Leicester City and got the move he desired in the final week of the last transfer window.
The Foxes made multiple bids to sign the defender, but Saint-Étienne rejected them after being pushed to do so by their manager, Claude Puel.
However, the Ligue 1 side finally accepted the Premier League side’s proposal worth €35m plus €5m in bonuses to sanction the 19-year-old’s sale.
The French club’s chiefs had decided in advance to sell the centre-back if they received such a lucrative offer.
Le10 Sport now provides a background into what happened at Saint-Étienne in the final days of the summer window.
It’s claimed that Puel continued to oppose Fofana’s sale ‘until the end’, but his employer had ‘no choice’ but to accept the offer [€35+€5m in bonuses] made by Brendan Rodgers’ side.
Saint-Étienne chiefs Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caiazzo had to overrule the will of their manager. This created tension within the club, but they knew there was a need to improve their financial condition.
Puel’s efforts weren’t successful as Leicester managed to secure Fofana’s services in the end.
It now remains to be seen whether this episode will lead to further complications at Saint-Étienne.
