Chelsea player at centre of Deadline Day saga as Celtic 'approach' confirmed amid Preston & Charlton interest

Chelsea have made a decent start to the new Premier League season and have seven points on the board from their first three fixtures. Enzo Maresca was picked as their head coach last year and guided them to Europa Conference League glory in the last campaign. Prior to his move to Stamford Bridge, he caught the eye at Leicester City and guided the Foxes to the Championship title.

The Blues have until the deadline at 7pm to complete any incoming or outgoing bits of business. They are back in action after the international break later this month as they look to keep their momentum going. Next up for the London outfit is an away trip to Brentford.

Celtic approach Chelsea for David Datro Fofana

Celtic have made an ‘approach’ to take Chelsea striker David Datro Fofana on loan, according to Sky Sports. The forward remains under contract until June 2029. However, he is surplus to requirements and his long-term future is up in the air.

Fofana, 22, is an Ivory Coast international with three caps to his name. He has been linked with Charlton Athletic, as per reporter Pete O’Rourke on X. Fellow Championship side Preston North End were also credited with an interest.

Chelsea signed the attacker back in 2021 after he impressed in Scandinavia with Molde. He has since made four appearances for the Blues’ first-team and hasn’t scored. He has been loaned out to the likes of Union Berlin, Burnley and Goztepe over recent times to get some experience under his belt and boost his development.

His switch to England hasn’t gone to plan yet and he is unlikely to break into Maresca’s starting XI. Therefore, a temporary exit would be beneficial for him. It remains to be seen where he will end up with Celtic seemingly joining Charlton and Preston in pursuit of his signature.

What has Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers said about transfers amid links to David Datro Fofana at Chelsea?

Celtic are crying out for attacking reinforcements at the moment. They drew a blank in their 0-0 draw with Rangers over the weekend. The Hoops could see Fofana at Chelsea as someone to give them another option at the top end of the pitch.

Their boss Brendan Rodgers has shared this update: “I look back to 12 months ago and we were really fast and dynamic and I hope in the next 24 hours we can get the support to the squad that can give us the opportunity to give us that again. It's not disrespectful to the guys here because they need it. Any team needs that. We have a lot of work to do but we need the competition in the squad and creativity to take the game to the level we want to.”

He added: “It's clearly the plan to be (busy). We want to pad out the squad with more quality, more speed and more creativity. Hopefully we can do that. There's a number of areas we need to freshen up.”