Chelsea are poised to make an audacious bid of £30m for highly-rated Roma defender Mehdi Benatia, according to The Express.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been eyeing the defender as cover for centre-backs John Terry and Gary Cahill after selling David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain.
The Morocco international has been strongly linked to Manchester United but Chelsea are believed to have have made a brazen approach with hopes of securing a quick deal and are favourites to sign the 27-year-old.
Chelsea switched their attentions to the French-born defender after being told their original target for the position – Real Madrid centre-back Raphael Varane – is not for sale.
They also missed out on Joao Miranda of Atletico Madrid, who has chosen to stay in Spain.
Should the deal go through, Chelsea will have to sell at least one foreign player so that they do not exceed the maximum number set by the Premier League, which is 17 non- home-grown players above the age of 21 in a squad of 25.
Petr Cech, Fernando Torres and Andrew Schurrle have all been rumoured as potential prospects to leave west London, with the club said to be willing to sell any of the three should the price be right.
Benatia signed for Roma last summer for a fee in the region of £11m and featured in 33 games for the Italian side. Prior to that he played for Serie A club Udinese for three seasons after moving from France, where the Moroccan began his football career.