Chelsea have suddenly emerged as serious contenders to land Wales international Gareth Bale to Stamford Bridge this season from Spanish giants Real Madrid, according to reports by the Express UK.
The Welsh forward could be on his way out of Real, especially if they land French sensation Kylian Mbappe, who is keen to quit Monaco.
Real president Florentino Perez is believed to be willing to do business on Bale, 28, for around £90million which would pay a large chunk of the fee for Mbappe.
He will be the odd man out if Mbappe does head to Real with Karim Benzema set to be offered a new contract in the coming weeks.
Manchester United have had a long standing interest in Bale but they are known to prefer to wait until next summer to sign him, especially after reports emerged that manager Jose Mourinho had made signing Brazilian international Fabinho his priority.
Chelsea have been following Bale's situation develop at Real all summer with boss Antonio Conte looking to make three to four more signings to strengthen his squad.
The impetus to sign a few more world class players have been fuelled by the recent loss against rivals Arsenal at the Community Shield final on Sunday.
Chelsea's Russian owner, Roman Abramovich has already done business with Real this summer after luring striker Alvaro Morata to Stamford Bridge.
Morata had also emerged as a primary target for rivals Manchester United earlier in the transfer window, but United had to settle for Belgian international Romelu Lukaku after Chelsea managed to persuade Morata to join the London club instead.
Bale broke the transfer record when Real Madrid paid Tottenham £85.3m in 2013, smashing the previous record set by Real when they paid £80m for Cristiano Ronaldo.
During his time at Real, he has won the Champions League three times as well as La Liga last season.
Meanwhile, Monaco vice president Vadim Vasilyev has admitted Mbappe is likely to leave the French club this season to better his own career.
"It's more complicated than that. The player needs to move for the sake of sporting reasons, contrary to what you may have seen in the press. It is not simply a case of money."
