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Championship clubs are continuing their business before the summer transfer window deadline.
With only hours remaining in the summer transfer window, Championship clubs are scrambling to get deals over the line.
Two of which include Preston North End and Charlton Athletic, with Preston boosted in the pursuit of Harrison Armstrong regarding Everton.
For the Addicks, it has already been an extremely busy summer following their promotion from League One, with nine players added for Nathan Jones.
Now, Preston are poised to beat Charlton to sign an in-demand Chelsea starlet on loan for the 2025/26 Championship campaign.
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Preston North End to sign David Datro Fofana on loan from Chelsea
Reports emerged early on deadline day that Charlton and Preston targeted David Datro Fofana for a season-long loan move for the Chelsea striker.
Fofana arrived at Stamford Bridge from Molde in late 2022, for a fee Fabrizio Romano reported on X at the time to be €12m/£10.3m.
However, Fofana has made only four appearances for the Blues since joining, with lacklustre spells on loan at Union Berlin, Burnley, and Göztepe over recent seasons.
With Liam Delap joining Chelsea from Ipswich Town for £30m earlier in the summer, striker Fofana will find first-team minutes even harder to come by with Delap far ahead of him in the pecking order.
As a result, the Blues are set to loan Fofana out to the Championship in the hopes of continuing his development in English football, with Preston poised to win the race for the 22-year-old’s services.
Journalist Pete O’Rourke outlined on X: “Preston are emerging as favourites to land Chelsea striker David Datro Fofana on loan.”
As well as Fofana, Preston want Tom Cannon on loan with their reported interest in the misfiring Sheffield United striker, but the move for the Chelsea fringe man seems to be the more financially feasible option.
What ex-Burnley boss Vincent Kompany thought of David Datro Fofana
In the second half of the 2023/24 season, Fofana’s loan spell at Union Berlin in the Bundesliga was cut short, seeing the Chelsea starlet join Burnley on loan for the remainder of the campaign.
Under the tutelage of Vincent Kompany, Fofana scored four goals and notched one assist in 15 Premier League outings, a commendable return of 1 goal contribution every three games for the relegation-threatened Clarets.
After entering from the bench against Fulham, Fofana was the hero for Burnley after his late brace rescued a crucial point at Turf Moor to see the clash end 2-2.
Following his pivotal display, Kompany told Sky Sports: “I think that was a turning point for us, the performance of Fofana, Maxime Esteve, Assignon and the other players who came off the bench, that was a turning point for us.
“We can use any help we can get, and David showed today that he gives us something different, and we will need it.
“I’ve not spent one second talking with him about what he did in the Premier League or with Chelsea. But he’s played in the Bundesliga, which is a very, very tough league and he’s a player that comes back with a wealth of experience.”
Preston and Paul Heckingbottom will be hoping that the Ivorian international can rediscover his goalscoring form from the 2022 season at Molde, when he scored 19 goals and registered three assists in 35 outings, which saw Chelsea shell out an eight-figure fee for his signature.