Jamie Gittens remains a priority transfer target for Chelsea, despite Bayern Munich now entering the race for the Borussia Dortmund winger.
The Blues have already settled on personal terms with the 20-year-old on a seven-year contract but an agreement is not currently in place between the clubs over a fee.
Chelsea had a £42million opening bid for Gittens rejected two weeks ago. Dortmund are hoping to receive £50m.
Bayern are now exploring their own move for Gittens, having missed out on their No1 target, Florian Wirtz, who joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen on Friday for £100m plus £16m in add-ons.
Standard Sport understands that Bayern’s interest in Gittens will not push Chelsea off course. The Blues still see the Englishman as their priority target and hope to get a deal wrapped up ahead of next season.
Chelsea wanted Gittens through the door in time to feature at the Club World Cup, but Dortmund’s insistence on his £50m valuation presented an obstacle.
Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl summarised the status of Chelsea’s pursuit of Gittens last week.
“We didn't come to an agreement on Jamie because we have different ideas about the player's current value,” he said.
Juventus and Napoli were both linked with Nicolas Jackson over the weekend but he is still not for sale as far as Chelsea are concerned.
While the £30m signing of striker Liam Delap from Ipswich earlier this month did not sound the alarm over his future, there has been frustration among Chelsea fans after Jackson picked up his second red card in a little over a month with a reckless tackle just four minutes after replacing Delap in Friday’s 3-1 Club World Cup defeat by Flamengo.
But Chelsea have no plans to sell Jackson right now and expect him to play a significant role next season as things stand.
