Maxence Lacroix: Chelsea in talks with Crystal Palace over signing of France international defender

Chelsea are in talks with Crystal Palace over the signing of defender Maxence Lacroix.

Palace and Chelsea enjoy good relations at the highest levels and they have done deals for players such as Trevoh Chalobah and Ben Chilwell.

Chelsea want to sign a centre-back and ideally any new arrival would be physically imposing and bring Premier League experience.

Chelsea have raised around £130m from sales in this window and more players are set to leave.

In defence, players who could move on include Chalobah, Benoit Badiashile, Malo Gusto and Axel Disasi.

All being well, Rogers is then expected to sign a six-year contract at Chelsea with the option of another year until 2033.

Rogers returned from the USA on Sunday following England's third-place finish at the World Cup, via a bronze-final victory over France.

Chelsea moved quickly to secure the deal ahead of Arsenal, who were unwilling to match the asking price despite Rogers being their top forward target.

Rogers will become the most expensive British player of all time when he completes his move from Aston Villa, with the fee eclipsing the £116m fee paid by Manchester City for his England team-mate Elliot Anderson.

Rogers is also set to become Chelsea's record signing, overtaking the £115m the Blues paid Brighton for Moises Caicedo in 2023.

Geovany Quenda - Sporting, £43.5m

Denner - Corinthians, £8.7m

Dastan Satpaev - Kairat Almaty, £2.1m

Emmanuel Emegha - Strasbourg, undisclosed

Tyrique George - Everton, £24m

Jimmy-Jay Morgan - West Brom, £4m