Chelsea are weighing up an offer for Lille defender Leny Yoro, according to 90min.com.

The website claims that the Blues are keeping tabs on the 17-year-old, who replaced Eden Hazard as Lille’s second-youngest debutant when he played his first senior game in May last year.

Yoro made occasional appearances for Lille’s first team during the 2022/23 season but he has become a regular starter at the beginning of this campaign, having featured in 11 matches already.

90min report that Chelsea are willing to buy the teenager and loan him back for the rest of the season. They had a similar agreement with Lyon for Malo Gusto and it could give them the edge in the race for Yoro’s signature.

Which other clubs are competing with Chelsea to sign Yoro?

It is believed that both Liverpool and Manchester United are keeping tabs on the centre-half, while the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are also interested.

At the moment, it is not known how much Lille would sell Yoro for but they are desperately trying to secure him on a longer contract, with his current deal expiring in 2025.

Do Chelsea need another centre-back?

Manager Mauricio Pochettino currently has SIX central defenders at his disposal, including Thiago Silva, Axel Disasi, Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile, Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah.

For that reason, it would be hard to see Yoro getting much game time even if Chalobah were to leave Stamford Bridge in January and Silva decided against staying with the Blues beyond the summer.

There is a possibility that Chelsea would allow Yoro to leave on multiple loan spells. We have seen with Cesare Casadei that the London club are not averse to making such decisions.

However, it is difficult to believe that Yoro would want to be farmed out in such a way, considering that he is already playing regularly for Lille.

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