Chelsea have reached an agreement with Leicester City to sign the defender Wesley Fofana after a summer-long pursuit by the west London club.

Leicester had rejected three bids from Chelsea for the 21-year-old central defender, most recently for £70 million, but The Times understands that a slightly improved fourth offer was accepted and is set to take the club’s summer spending to more than £220 million. Fofana is expected to sign a six-year contract at Stamford Bridge.

Brendan Rodgers, the Leicester City manager, had been desperate to keep Fofana, signed for £36.5 million from St Etienne in 2020, but the Midlands club softened their stance after the player pushed for the move.

The two clubs meet at Stamford Bridge on Saturday in the Premier League and both parties had been keen to reach an agreement before the match.

Leicester wanted a conclusion to the summer saga as they aim to replace Fofana and add to the squad before the transfer window closes on September 1.

Fofana was Thomas Tuchel’s top target in central defence and completes the club’s task of replacing the departed Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen, with Kalidou Koulibaly in place after arriving from Napoli this summer.

Chelsea further strengthened in defence by signing Marc Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion in a deal worth £62 million, while adding Raheem Sterling to the attack in the Boehly-Clearlake ownership’s first buy of the summer.

The new ownership at Stamford Bridge is aiming to make more signings before the transfer window closes, with Everton’s Anthony Gordon and the Barcelona striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the main targets.

Chelsea are still hopeful of convincing Frenkie de Jong, the Barcelona midfielder, of moving to Stamford Bridge as the Catalan club aim to remove the Dutch midfielder’s wages from their finances.

Tuchel had been looking to add youth to his backline as Koulibaly joined the 37-year-old Thiago Silva as the first-choice defensive options for the German head coach. Fofana’s arrival is now expected to allow Trevoh Chalobah, the Chelsea academy product, to leave the club this summer with RB Leipzig and AC Milan keen to sign the central defender.