Chelsea ‘on the verge of £8.6m deal to sign Ivory Coast wonderkid striker David Datro Fofana’

Chelsea are believed to be on the verge of signing Ivorian wunderkind David Datro Fofana from Molde, just weeks after Graham Potter’s former club Brighton opened talks for him.

The 19-year-old striker has scored 21 goals for the Norwegian champions this year and a number of clubs are reportedly interested.

Just over a fortnight ago, the Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano reported that Brighton had opened talks for the talented Ivorian, who turns 20 next week.

Chelsea are ‘about to sign Ivory Coast wunderkind David Datro Fofana’ from Molde

Graham Potter’s former club Brighton had previously opened talks to sign the Ivorian star.

However, at the time, it was believed that the negotiations were not going to be easy due to several clubs tracking Fofana.

The Norwegian club, which produced another familiar striker in Erling Haaland, was also understood to want more than £8.6m (€10m).

But today, it has been revealed – again by Roman – that the Blues are ‘on the verge’ of signing the young star.

And he added: “There is a complete agreement with Molde to sign the Ivorian striker born in 2002.

Personal terms are still being discussed with the player, then a deal will be signed for more than 10 million euros. [£8.6m] rate.’

Fofana, who has also made one appearance for the Ivory Coast national team, had a prolific season in 2021/22, scoring 17 times in 29 games. Meanwhile, this season he has four goals in ten games.

The prolific striker has scored 21 goals this year and caught the eye of several clubs

17 days apart: Brighton had opened talks for Fofana but Chelsea now appear to be in charge

In all, the Ivorian has amassed 24 goals in 65 goals for the club and Chelsea will hope they can emulate Haaland, who left Molde in 2019.

The Manchester City striker enjoyed stints at RB Salzburg before becoming a young superstar at Dortmund, scoring 62 times in 67 appearances before moving to England.

Brighton will be sick of watching Chelsea after Potter raided Seagull’s personnel team when he joined the Blues in the summer, taking recruiting analyst Kyle Macaulay and head of recruiting Paul Winstanley.

Earlier this year, despite Brighton having one of the most sophisticated scouting networks, CEO Paul Barber wants the club to be “the smartest on the market”.

‘We are never going to compete against the top six or many in Europe for the players we want. Sometimes we have to take risks’, he said standard sport.

“Instead of finding the finished item, as some of the biggest clubs can afford to do, we have to find that talent before they get close to them.”