Chelsea are on red alert after reports in Spain suggested Real Madrid have earmarked a move for Reece James.
The academy product was handed the captain's armband at Stamford Bridge over the summer after signing a six-year contract with the club last year.
Currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, James is nevertheless expected to be an integral part of Mauricio Pochettino's team this season.
But his long-term future has been thrown into doubt after Spanish publication Diario AS revealed that Real Madrid are keen to sign James as a long-term successor to Dani Carvajal.
The Spain international turns 32 in January and Madrid are acutely aware of the need to secure a replacement sooner rather than later.
James is unlikely to come cheap - he is valued at €65m by Transfermarkt and is under contract until 2028 - but the lure of the Blancos could prove too strong to resist.
There are no signs that James is contemplating a move away from his boyhood club just yet, but the England international will not want to be out of the Champions League for too long.
Chelsea are absent from European competition this term after their 12th-place finish in the Premier League in 2022/23.
Due to Financial Fair Play considerations, the west Londoners have been willing to sell their academy graduates over the last couple of years, with Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham among those to depart.
Madrid are unlikely to submit a bid until next summer at the earliest, but the AS report states that James is the right-back they want.
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