Chelsea have taken a liking to 17-year-old Lille centre-back Leny Yoro, according to a report.
The 2005-born defender was promoted to the Dogues first team last season after a succession of impressive displays at youth level, and he has quickly become a regular in Paulo Fonseca's backline.
The Frenchman made his debut for Lille towards the end of the 2021-22 campaign, becoming their second-youngest player of all time behind Joel Depraeter-Henry and ahead of Eden Hazard.
Following in the footsteps of title-winning duo Jose Fonte and Sven Botman, Yoro has already played 27 times for the first team, registering two goals and one assist in the process.
Yoro was handed 15 first-team appearances during the 2022-23 season and already has two goals to his name from 11 outings in the 2023-24 campaign, playing the full 90 in each of their last seven Ligue 1 matches.
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Standing at 6ft 3in tall, Yoro has also earned three caps for the France Under-21 team, starting in a pair of Euros qualifying victories over Bosnia-Herzegovina and Cyprus earlier this month.
The teenager's first professional contract - which he only signed last year - is due to expire at the end of the 2024-25 campaign, but according to 90min, Chelsea are ready to try their luck.
The report claims that Blues scouts have been left highly impressed with Yoro's breakthrough, but they are not alone in their pursuit of the defender, who is also on the radar of Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
Chelsea's Premier League adversaries Liverpool and Manchester United have also been alerted to Yoro's development, although neither side has stepped up their interest just yet.
Chelsea could try to steal a march on their rivals by striking a deal with Lille which would see Yoro remain at the club for the remainder of the season, as was the case with Christopher Nkunku and Malo Gusto's transfers.
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The Ligue 1 club have not given up hope of tying Yoro down to a long-term renewal, although the financial muscle of Chelsea and other interested parties could eventually prove telling.
Chelsea - whose owners BlueCo took over Strasbourg earlier this year - have dipped into the Ligue 1 market a number of times since Todd Boehly's arrival, bringing Gusto, Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi and Lesley Ugochukwu to West London.
However, defensive reinforcements could be on Mauricio Pochettino's agenda next year, as Thiago Silva is out of contract at the end of the campaign and will celebrate his 40th birthday in September.
Trevoh Chalobah is also expected to head for the exit door after failing to win over Pochettino, although the Englishman's cause has not been helped by a thigh injury, while Malang Sarr is also on the chopping block.
Chelsea occupy 10th place in the Premier League table and return to action with a West London derby at home to Brentford on Saturday lunchtime.
Ben Knapton
