Juventus are reportedly yet to receive a bid for Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt amid interest from Chelsea.
The 22-year-old has been tipped to follow fellow centre-back Giorgio Chiellini out of the Turin exit door after the Italy international's switch to Los Angeles FC.
De Ligt is only contracted to the Bianconeri for another two years, but Massimiliano Allegri's side are still driving a hard bargain for the Netherlands international.
Interested parties will apparently be told to fork out a fee of £103m to sign De Ligt, which would see Juventus make a profit on the £77m they forked out to prise him away from Ajax in 2019.
Chelsea and Bayern Munich are understood to be the two leading contenders in the race to sign the former Ajax man, while Manchester City are said to be readying a £76m bid.
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The latest update from journalist Fabrizio Romano states that neither Chelsea nor Bayern have approached Juventus with an official bid, with talks set to continue this week.
Romano adds that De Ligt's agents have been discussing personal terms with Bayern Munich, which could potentially force Chelsea to look at alternative defensive targets.
De Ligt joined Juventus in 2019 after his breakthrough at Ajax and has totalled eight goals and three assists in 117 appearances for the Old Lady in all competitions since.
De Ligt has won the Scudetto, the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana during his time in Turin, and he only missed one game through injury in the 2021-22 season.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is expected to bring at least one new centre-back to Stamford Bridge after the departures of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
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Cesar Azpilicueta - who only has one year left to run on his contract - could also leave before the window shuts amid links with Barcelona, and it would supposedly take just £7m to sign the Spaniard.
Shoud the Blues fall behind in their pursuit of De Ligt, Manchester City's Nathan Ake has supposedly been identified as an ideal option to fill the void in defence.
Chelsea have already agreed to sign Raheem Sterling from the Premier League champions, and Ake is said to be in advanced talks over a return to the West London club.
Ake was on the books at Chelsea for six years before leaving for Bournemouth on a permanent deal in 2017, and the 27-year-old only made 17 senior appearances for the Blues before his exit.
Since arriving at Man City, Ake has struggled to become a regular fixture in Pep Guardiola's side and only made 14 Premier League appearances last season, 10 of which came from the first whistle.
Ben Knapton
