Chelsea’s Premier League rivals believe that Xabi Alonso’s club stand on the brink of signing Alex Scott from Bournemouth – with an agreement even possible in January.

Numerous clubs have been closely tracking the progress of Scott, with Chelsea and Liverpool the two clubs leading the race for the England international midfielder.

While Bournemouth have publicly targeted a fee in excess of €120 million (£100m), insiders believe that a deal will more realistically take place for €108m (£90m) – and that is a price that the Blues are willing to pay.

Chelsea closing in on Alex Scott? Insiders think so

Chelsea’s eagerness to sign a new central midfield player date back to the summer transfer window, when they sold Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City and subsequently missed out on Monaco’s Lamine Camara on Deadline Day.

Alonso has struggled to find consistency in his midfield since, with no player able to start more than half of the club’s Premier League matches to date. Indeed, surprise summer signing Jordan Henderson has played more top-flight minutes than any other Chelsea central midfielder.

All this has fuelled the Blues’ desire to sign Scott, and according to the Daily Mail, there is a belief in Premier League circles that a move could be completed as early as January.

It claims that rival clubs believe the Stamford Bridge side have moved into position to secure a £90m deal in the next transfer window, with Chelsea ready to nearly double the price they were poised to pay on Camara in the summer to secure the 23-year-old.

Bournemouth’s recent strong form is seen as one reason why the south coast club may have a change of heart regarding Scott, who is out of contract in June 2028. Marco Rose’s side have won their last five matches, including a 3-0 win over Manchester United away from home last week. This has been achieved without Scott, who is injured.

Data shows Scott an Enzo upgrade

Scott would arrive at Chelsea as Enzo Fernandez’s replacement, and the data suggests that he would stack up well as an upgrade on the Argentine.

At this point in his career, he holds a higher skill level than Enzo while data analytics firm SciSports expect him to achieve a higher level than the former Blues star.

Given that Chelsea sold the former Benfica man to Manchester City for €145m in the summer and are likely to sign Scott for substantially less than this figure, it appears a smart trade on the part of the Blues.

Although FootballTransfers’ information is that Bournemouth are not willing to sell any of their stars midway through the season, if Chelsea were to somehow get them to reverse this stance, it would be an outstanding result for the club.