Chelsea remain in talks with Rennes for Jeremy Jacquet as they look to add a starting centre-back to Liam Rosenior's squad this winter.
Jacquet is the leading target, but Rennes want to keep the 20-year-old until the end of the season.
That has made Chelsea become open to a pre-agreement or loan back in order to secure Jacquet's signature and get ahead of summer competition. Liverpool and Bayern Munich have also been credited with an interest in the French youngster.
Jeremy Jacquet marking Bradley Barcola
The Blues' preference is to sign Jacquet immediately and negotiations continue, and could go down to the wire. There is an added complication of Kader Meite's move to Al-Hilal, giving Rennes €30m and strengthening their hand in negotiations.
Rennes want a record sale for Jacquet, surpassing the €64m that saw them sell Jeremy Doku to Manchester City. Chelsea's valuation is lower and it remains to be seen whether they bid that high.
Jacquet is viewed as a strong squad fit and would likely be given instant game time under Rosenior. He is a player well known to the new Chelsea head coach.
Rosenior deployed a back-three in the 3-2 Champions League win over Napoli on Wednesday night, and that system requires another ball-playing defender.
Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Benoît Badiashile and Josh Acheampong are the other defenders currently available to the Chelsea head coach, while Tosin Adarabioyo and Levi Colwill are both sidelined through injury.
Two Chelsea Stars Could Leave Before the Deadline
disasi
Axel Disasi is back training with the first-team squad but expected to leave this winter. West Ham, Roma and Lyon are three clubs to have shown concrete interest. Premier League rivals Crystal Palace have made an initial enquiry as well.
Aaron Anselmino has also been recalled from his loan spell at Dortmund, a move that took the German club by surprise, but there is no guarantee he remains at Stamford Bridge if Jacquet arrives.
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