Chelsea have asked to be kept informed on in-demand German defender Amos Pieper.
Southampton, Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund are all interested in the former Germany under-21 centre half who will become a free agent this summer. But Chelsea have also been alerted to his availability and are keeping tabs on various defensive options as they face the prospect of losing two key centre halves this summer with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen both set to quit Stamford Bridge.
Real Madrid are set to sign Rudiger who has turned down a £230,000-a-week deal to stay at Chelsea while Barcelona are favourites to get Christensen who is also a free agent at the end of the season. Pieper, 24, is an attractive option for clubs because his contract expires at the end of the season, he is a former Borussia Dortmund youth academy graduate and he played for Germany at under-21 level and was also picked for his country’s Olympic squad.
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He moved to Bundesliga club Arminia Bielefeld three years ago and has become a regular and, despite them battling with relegation this season, he has attracted attention from across Europe.
His former club Dortmund are keeping close tabs but the defender could fancy a move to English football and the Premier League with Southampton very keen. Southampton have become very shrewd operators in the transfer market and will look to strengthen on a budget.
Chelsea are long term admirers of Sevilla’s France defender Jules Kounde and tried to sign him last summer only for the deal to break down. If the takeover goes ahead in the next few weeks, they are expected to go back for him this summer.
They also like Paris Saint Germain defender Marquinhos but they would both be at the top end of the market and there is still so much uncertainty around the ownership with the club going through a sale process after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government.
