Manchester City interest in Ben Chilwell could hinge on the outcome of their Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing with Uefa.
With a decision not expected before August, City are unlikely to commit to any major transfers before then with the club set to miss out on revenues of around £200million if the sanctions are upheld.
City were interested in signing 23-year-old Chilwell in the January transfer window with Pep Guardiola seeking further competition to Benjamin Mendy and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Mendy has been injured for the majority of his time at the Etihad Stadium since arriving for £48m from AS Monaco in July 2017.
But even if Uefa’s ruling is overturned by CAS, the fee required to sign Chilwell from Leicester City may prove problematic for Guardiola’s side.
City pulled out of the running to sign Harry Maguire last summer having deemed a world-record price tag too much for the England international.
Maguire joined rivals Manchester United for 80m, and with Leicester valuing Chilwell at a similarly high price, City may well look elsewhere with signing a centre back their main priority.
For those reasons, Chelsea would appear to be best-placed to sign the England international with manager Frank Lampard looking to strengthen at left back also as the Blues look to complete their business early.
As reported by Standard Sport last week, Lampard is a keen admirer of Chilwell and sees the Foxes star as an ideal replacement for Marcos Alonso.
With Chelsea having already completed a deal for Hakim Ziyech and with the signing of Timo Werner set to be completed this week, the Blues will make Chilwell their top priority.
