Chelsea's admiration of Jadon Sancho, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner is entirely unsurprising but all three would be prohibitively expensive in a time when the entire industry is facing financial uncertainty.
The Blues may seem better placed than most to capitalise in the next transfer window, especially if financial fair play rules end up being relaxed.
But they are also not going to pay wildly over the odds for certain players, no matter how impressive their performances have been.
So instead of £120million for Dortmund's Sancho or giving Bayer Leverkusen £100m for Havertz, what are the alternative Bundesliga young talents with high ceilings but lower price tags?
Matheus Cunha
Since the German league's resumption a fortnight ago the Hertha Berlin attacker has been one of the star turns.
A Brazil Under-22 international, Cunha joined Hertha from RB Leipzig in January and has ... from seven starts.
He missed today's game against Augsburg because of concussion but has already caught the attention of scouts in Serie A.
The Premier League's recruitment specialists will also be keeping a close eye.
Florian Wirtz
The 17-year-old made his second start in Leverkusen's 1-0 win away to Freiburg on Friday evening and is being talked up in the same mould as Havertz, his team-mate who also broke through at 17.
He is a different type of player, though, combining his skills as a wide man with a penchant for cutting in.
A potential suitor may be better served snapping him up now than in a season or two when the asking price will climb and climb.
Marcus Thuram
Another whose prominence has grown since the restart thanks to goals in the first two games back for Champions League-chasing Borussia Monchengladbach.
The son of 1998 World Cup winner Lilian combines supreme athletic ability with a clever eye for goal and has eight goals and eight assists so far.
Under contract until the summer of 2023, he is represented by Mino Raiola.
Christopher Nkunku
The 22-year-old rising star could have joined Arsenal during the Unai Emery era but instead went from Paris Saint-Germain to Leipzig.
His versatility this season has been remarkable with Julian Nagelsmann using the Frenchman in seven different positions.
Only Sancho and Thomas Muller have provided more assists in Germany this season and no one has played more key passes.
Nkunku is under contract until the summer of 2024 but his value is only going to keep rising.
Milot Rashica
It has been a campaign of struggle at Werder Bremen, who won 1-0 away to Schalke this afternoon to boost their survival hopes, but the Kosovo star has been a sole bright spot.
The 22-year-old has had a direct role in almost 40% of his team's goals and provided the assist for Leonardo Bittencourt's first-half strike today.
He may not be a massive star name like Sancho, Werner or Havertz but should Bremen go down he would be available at cut-price and prove a dependable squad member with plenty of room still to develop.
