Chelsea and Newcastle are the two strongest contenders to sign Everton left-back Lucas Digne, according to ESPN.

However, the Blues are currently not favourites to land the France international as they want to snap up the defender on loan, while the Toffees want to offload him on a permanent basis.

After falling out with manager Rafa Benitez, the Merseyside club are keen to dispense with Digne’s services entirely and they have slapped a £25m asking price on the player.

With “talks expected in the coming days” ESPN suggest that even though Digne would prefer a move to Chelsea, Newcastle may be the only team that will match the fullback’s valuation.

It will, therefore, be up to Chelsea to decide whether they are going to go all out for Digne or to move on to other targets. AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez, Barcelona’s Sergino Dest and Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico have all been mentioned as other potential options recently.