Reports: Chelsea join the race to sign Bayern Munich star

Chelsea are in the race to sign versatile Bayern Munich defender David Alaba, as per reports.

Alaba’s contract with the Bavarians expires in July 2021, and a renewal is unlikely, considering the Austrian and his agent Pini Zahavi are not happy with the club’s terms for the new deal.

The 28-year-old will be free to negotiate terms with other clubs in January and considering he is still in his peak years, he could be a player in high demand come 2021.

📈 David Alaba's best WhoScored rated Bundesliga campaigns:🥇 2013/14 - 7.55 rating🥈 2012/13 - 7.32 rating🥉 2014/15 - 7.24 rating👀 Pep Guardiola was in charge of Bayern for two of those campaigns pic.twitter.com/77pZhWUxWx

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) October 2, 2020

Chelsea looking to sign David Alaba

The Blues have made good progress under Frank Lampard this season after going all gung-ho in the summer transfer market.

As per Bild (h/t InsideFutbol), Chelsea are set to compete with the trio of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris Saint-Germain for the services of Alaba.

Despite all their summer arrivals, there is more room for improvement at Chelsea. The Blues signed Thiago Silva in the summer to shore up their defense, but he is not a long-term signing, having turned 36 in September this year.

David Alaba is being seen as the player who can slot in at center-back, alongside Kurt Zouma, for the next few years as it remains to be seen how often Silva can play. The Brazilian has made a good start to his career at Chelsea and seems to be ageing like fine wine.

Since making his debut for Bayern Munich in 2010, David Alaba has gone on to make an incredible 401 appearances for the senior team, scoring 32 goals and assisting 49 in the process.

After starting off as a buccaneering full-back, in the team, Alaba has transitioned into a more central role as a center-back and has done well in the position.

Chelsea have good depth in the full-back positions but could do with another experienced player in the central defensive area. While Antonio Rudiger has done a good job, he is not consistent enough and has fallen down the pecking order at the club after Silva’s arrival.

David Alaba’s wage demands will be high, but he is also likely to choose a club that are in the best position to challenge for trophies. Having just won the treble at Bayern Munich, he will want to move to a club with a good structure.

Chelsea have made progress and are building a team for the future, but they have shown that they can overwhelm sides with their quality this season.

Bayern have stopped all efforts to extend David Alaba's contract. No more negotiations are planned & the bosses assume that he'll leave in the summer. Alaba can start talks with other clubs next month with Zahavi having 4 clubs on his list: Real, Barça, PSG & Chelsea [@SPORTBILD] pic.twitter.com/DwHBauACIA

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) December 9, 2020