Chelsea close to signing international defender

Chelsea are on the cusp of signing Ben Chilwell from Leicester City, a report from The Times claims.

The Blues have been hot on the trail of the England international in recent months and they are reported to have finally made the breakthrough in the negotiations.

The £80m price tag was previously deemed a stumbling block towards a summer deal, but it appears that they have convinced the Foxes to accept a lesser fee up front.

The exact sum has not been mentioned, but the Blues are on the verge of wrapping up their third signing of the ongoing summer transfer window.

Frank Lampard's side have already signed Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech from RB Leipzig and Ajax respectively to bolster the attack.

They are said to be eyeing at least three more signings and have identified Kai Havertz of Bayer Leverkusen as one of the prime targets.

Chelsea have yet to finalise a fee for the attacker. They are currently £20m shy of meeting Leverkusen's £90m valuation of the Germany international.