Chelsea's hopes of signing Jude Bellingham may have taken a major hit, with Real Madrid reportedly ready to meet Borussia Dortmund's asking price of almost £90m.
The Blues continue to be linked with Bellingham, 19, who's also said to be of interest to Liverpool and Manchester City. One club who won't be making a move, though, are Bayern Munich, whose CEO Oliver Kahn ruled them out of the race for the England midfielder earlier this week.
But Real would appear to be leading that race. According to MARCA, the Spanish giants have been discussing a deal for the past 12 months.
The report adds that Bellingham's €100m (£87.9m) valuation is in Real's price range (that's hardly a surprise, is it?) and that talks have 'moved on to the stage of talking numbers'.
Bellingham joined Dortmund from boyhood club Birmingham City in July 2020 at the age of 17, for a reported initial fee of £22.75m. He recently passes 100 appearances for the Black and Yellows, for whom he's scored 14 goals.
Last weekend's Bundesliga defeat to Koln saw Bellingham captain Dortmund for the first time, an experience he described as "a dream come true".
He also wore the armband in Wednesday's 4-1 Champions League win at Sevilla (during which he scored his side's second goal), becoming the youngest English player to start a Champions League game as skipper.
Next up for Bellingham and Dortmund is the small matter of Saturday's Der Klassiker at home to Bayern.
That's BVB's first of 10 matches between now and the World Cup, where, assuming he stays fit, Bellingham looks set to start – and star – for Gareth Southgate's Three Lions.
More Chelsea stories
Could Bellingham's England midfielder partner be on his way to Stamford Bridge next year? Chelsea are said to have made long-term target Declan Rice their top transfer target for 2023.
Meanwhile, it's been reported that the Blues at the front of the queue to sign AC Milan and Portugal forward Rafael Leao and that they've already made an acceptable offer to RB Leipzig striker Christopher Nkunku.
In other news, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has described how he's found it "strange" not to be playing under Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea – after the German was sacked last month.
