Chelsea will aim to continue their impressive run of form when they visit Leeds United on Wednesday night.
The Blues held Premier League leaders Arsenal to a 1-1 draw on Sunday, despite midfielder Moises Caicedo being sent off in the first-half at Stamford Bridge.
Enzo Maresca will hope to see his side build on that performance when they visit Elland Road to face a struggling Leeds side.
At present the West London side sit third in the Premier League table, and victory against the Whites would keep the pressure up on the top two.
In the meantime, it appears that Chelsea are in pole position to sign a Frenchman.
According to CaughtOffside, the Blues are leading the race to sign RB Leipzig centre-back Castello Lukeba.
The report claims that Chelsea have identified the defender as one of their prime targets to bolster Maresca’s backline.
Lukeba has attracted interest from Chelsea (Photo: Nicolo Campo/Alamy)
They will likely face competition in the race to sign the Frenchman, though, with Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle United all also said to be interested in the player.
Lukeba, 22, joined Leipzig from French side Lyon in 2023 and has now made 84 appearances for the club across all competitions.
So far this season the central defender has featured 12 times for Leipzig.
He is under contract at the German side until the end of the 2028/29 season, but it appears that the Bundesliga outfit could face a battle to keep hold of the player beyond next year with several clubs interested.
It is claimed that the defender’s current contract includes a release clause set just below £80 million, however that fee drops to around £70 million next summer.
The report even suggests that Leipzig could be willing to allow the player to leave the club for a fee in the region of £50 million when the transfer window reopens in January.