Chelsea is plotting a £60 million raid on Bayern Munich for defender David Alaba.
The Blues is free to spend again in January after seeing a transfer ban lifted, and getting a new left-back on board is a priority for manager Frank Lampard.
He has axed both Emerson Palmeri and Marcos Alonso in recent weeks, with captain Cesar Azpilicueta switching from right-back to cover the gap.
Alaba, 27, has 18 months left on his contract at Bayern and they could decide to cash in if they fill he won’t sign an extension.
The chance to play in the Premier League may appeal to the Austria international, who the Sunday Mirror report could be worth as much as £60 million.
Alaba can play in a number of positions, including left-back, left-wing, central defence and central midfield.
He has been in Munich for most of his senior career, bar a brief loan spell at Hoffenheim back in 2011 and the Vienna-born star has won the lot with Bayern.
Alaba was non-committal when asked about his future back in December.
“I can imagine both: to either stay here or take a different path,” he said. “At the moment, however, we have goals here at Bayern Munich that I want to achieve.”
Lampard said Chelsea is working on deals behind the scenes.
He said last week: “I have very close conversations with Marina [Granovskaia, the director], Petr Cech [the technical and performance adviser] and Scott [McLachlan], who is the head of our recruitment department.
“They know what I want and I will be fundamentally in the middle of who and what we bring into the club.
“As it stands we are very open about that. If it feels right from my side, on the footballing point, in January, and from the club side in January, then we will make the moves we make. It is a joined-up effort.”
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