Italian outfit Napoli are keen on signing out-of-favour Chelsea left-back Emerson Palmieri.
That is according to a report by Repubblica, as cited by Tuttomercatoweb.
Following the summer arrival of England defender Ben Chilwell from Leicester City, Emerson, who joined Chelsea from Italian outfit Roma in January 2018, has slipped to third in the pecking order for the left-back berth, with both Chilwell and Marcos Alonso ahead of him.
The 26-year-old was heavily linked with an exit from Stamford Bridge prior to the summer transfer window closing but no move ever came to fruition, meaning he remained in west London, although it seemed certain that game time would prove limited.
And so it has, with the former Santos man having been restricted to just four appearances so far this term, with only one of those being a start, that coming in the 6-0 rout of Championship outfit Barnsley back in September in the Carabao Cup.
However, the left-back, who has 11 caps for Italy to his name, could soon be about to secure an escape route out of Stamford Bridge and a return to Italy, with Napoli keen on striking a deal for his services.
According to reports in Italy, Napoli, who currently have Chelsea man Tiemoue Bakayoko on loan, are keen on doing a deal for the left-back, as they look to strengthen that particular area of the team.
It is claimed that Napoli have spoken to Chelsea about the prospect of signing the former Roma man, with the Blues open to the idea of letting him join the Serie A club on a free transfer until the end of the season.
Over the summer, the left-back was closely linked with the likes of Juventus and Inter Milan, who were both under the stewardship of former Chelsea managers at the time in the form of Maurizio Sarri and Antonio Conte, respectively.
Since then, though, Sarri has been replaced at Juventus by former midfielder Andrea Pirlo.
Should Napoli strike a deal for Emerson, it would free up another space within Frank Lampard's squad and perhaps more importantly reduce the size of the wage bill, allowing the club to spend more money on any potential new arrivals in January, should they look to maintain their desire to strengthen the squad following a remarkable summer transfer window, which saw over £200million spent on the likes of Edouard Mendy, Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner.
