Chelsea lead the race to sign Marcus Thuram in January

Cameron Smith

• 12 Jan 2023 19:26 GMT
• 3 min read

Chelsea have moved into the lead in the race to sign Borussia Monchengladbach and France forward Marcus Thuram, according to reports.

The Blues have already signed David Datro Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos and Joao Felix this month, but are keen to add yet more reinforcements as they bid to turn their season around and finish in the top four.

Graham Potter has struggled to find results since taking charge at Stamford Bridge, but hasn't been helped by the mass of injuries that have pilled up at the club.

READ: Why Joao Felix is just an expensive stop-gap for Chelsea

As a result, they have continued to pursue more players and are in the market for a central midfielder and a striker.

Di Marzio have reported that Chelsea are now the frontrunners to sign Thuram as they look to sign the aforementioned striker. Thuram, 25, has featured on the left flank a lot for Gladbach since joining, but has been deployed as a central striker this season.

In that role, he's bagged 10 goals in 15 Bundesliga games, and has provided three assists as well.

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Change of heart for Thuram

According to Di Marzio, Thuram is said to have had a change of heart in the past 24 hours in regards to a possible move to Stamford Bridge.

His preference was originally to stay at Gladbach until the end of the season and leave the club as a free agent, but Di Marzio understand that Chelsea have submitted an offer that has tempted Thuram.

As a result, the Frenchman is now in advanced talks with the Blues and could join the club this month.

It's been widely reported that Thuram would only cost roughly €15 million, with Gladbach setting a low price in the hope they won't lose him for free in the summer.

Thuram would become Chelsea's fifth January signing if the arrives and would take their spending close to €100m in this window.