"I had discussions with Luis Campos" - Sporting director confirms PSG were in talks to sign 27-year-old midfielder

Lens sporting director Florian Ghisolfi has claimed that Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) were interested in signing club captain Seko Fofana in the recently concluded summer transfer window.

Fofana, who joined Lens from Udinese for a fee of €8.5 million in the summer of 2020, has been an integral part of Franck Haise's side for the past two seasons. Overall, the 27-year-old has registered 14 goals and eight assists in 78 matches across all competitions.

A combative box-to-box midfielder, Fofana was included in the 2021-22 Ligue 1 Team of the Year after guiding his team to a respectable seventh-place finish. He was also handed the Prix Marc-Vivien Foé award for his performances in the centre of the park.

🚨 | Des échanges ont eu lieu cet été entre le #PSG, le RC Lens et l’ancien entourage de Seko Fofana 🇨🇮 pour un transfert

Les Lensois demandaient 40M€ pour son joueur… Le PSG a donc décidé de se tourner vers Renato Sanches 🇵🇹🤝

📲 @telefoot_TF1 https://t.co/ivVHyiPKfK

Speaking to La Voix des Sports (via Le10Sport), Ghisolfi confirmed that PSG advisor Luis Campos was keen to lure Fofana away from the Stade Bollaert-Delelis this summer. He said:

"I had discussions with Luis Campos, who told me that he was very interested in Seko."

He added:

"Plan A was to keep Seko, but there had to be B where you sold him. If Paris had wanted to buy Seko, we would have gone there because when there is logic to be respected, we respect it."

Despite a host of transfer speculations, Fofana chose to remain at Lens and extended his contract until 2025 last month. The Ivory Coast international has also started his 2022-23 campaign on a positive note, contributing two goals and two assists in five Ligue 1 matches so far.

📍 Stade Bollaert-Delelis
🔥 37 161 cœurs artésiens
⏱ 23h05

Le rond central comme zone de vérité.

#CaptainSeko est Artésien et le restera ❤️💛

#Seko2025 https://t.co/gxlWFo50kT

PSG, on the other hand, roped in four midfielders this summer. The Christophe Galtier-coached outfit signed Vitinha for €40 million from Porto, Renato Sanches for €15 million from Lille, Fabian Ruiz for €23 million from Napoli and Carlos Soler for €18 million from Valencia.

PSG are atop the Ligue 1 standings with 19 points from seven matches. The club will next travel to Maccabi Haifa for their second UEFA Champions League Group H fixture on Wednesday (September 14).

PSG's Luis Campos on the radar of Chelsea

Chelsea are interested in luring Luis Campos away from PSG and appointing him as their new sporting director following the arrival of new head coach Graham Potter, according to The Times.

As per the aforementioned report, Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has already held discussions with Campos. The new ownership are said to be unhappy with the structure of the current Blues squad and are keen to invest heavily in the winter transfer window.