The 18-year-old, Luke Shaw has been tipped to leave the St. Mary’s Stadium before the closure of the January transfer window with top Premier League clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester United seriously coveting his signature.

Recent reports have suggested that Manchester United have bid in excess of £20 million for Shaw as they look at long-term replacements for the aging Patrice Evra.

However, Chelsea will feel they can outbid anyone after they generated a sale of £53 million due to the sale of Mata and Kevin De Bruyne to United and Wolfsburg respectively. Even though they have acquired Mohamed Salah and Nemanja Matic, they boast a profit in excess of £20 million which will be used for tempting Southampton to sanction the sale of Shaw.

According to the Standard, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is now ready to use the cash derived from the Mata sale to bid for Shaw, who would prefer a move to London since he is a fan of the club and even trained at the Chelsea Development Centre in Guildford as a child.

Although Southampton are adamant that Shaw is not for sale, every player has a price and the Blues believe a bid in the region of £20 million with add-ons would tempt the Saints to sell their prized asset, even after he turned in another fine performance in Southampton’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Wednesday night at St Mary’s. The 2-2 draw cost the Gunners the League lead as Manchester City now lead by a point over Arsenal and 3 points over the Blues, after the Citizens demolished Spurs 5-1 at White Hart Lane and Chelsea could only draw 0-0 with a feisty West Ham..

If Chelsea can secure his services, the teenager would be loaned back till the end of the season before teaming up with the Blues squad next summer ahead of the 2014-15 season.