Southampton are planning contract talks with Ryan Bertrand amid mounting interest in the defender from Leicester.
Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers is growing increasingly resigned to losing Ben Chilwell, Chelsea’s No 1 left-back target, and Bertrand is high on his list of replacement targets.
England defender Chilwell, 23, is likely to cost at least £50m.
Rodgers has identified Bertrand as a potential successor who he believes could cost a fraction of that price and still leave him with money for other areas of his squad or to recruit a younger, longer term replacement who could bed in slowly while the ready-made Bertrand fills the role more immediately.