Southampton are confident of beating Newcastle to the loan signing of Chelsea’s rising star Ruben Loftus-Cheek, according to the Mirror.
The news outlet details that the Magpies, Brighton and Crystal Palace are all interested in bringing in the 21-year-old this summer, but that the Saints are now favourites to land him.
The England Under-21 international is said to have been granted permission to leave Stamford Bridge temporarily this summer in order to continue with his progression and seek more first team football.
The midfielder made his senior debut for Chelsea as far back as December 2014 in a Champions League group clash against Sporting Lisbon aged just 18.
However, he has since gone on to play just 32 times for the club in total, with 11 of those appearances coming in the last campaign.
But, Loftus-Cheek does still boast two Premier League title wins in his list of accolades and time spent with both Jose Mourinho’s and Antonio Conte’s winning squads will have provided plenty of experience.
Southampton themselves have good recent history in the transfer window with Chelsea, signing both Ryan Bertrand and Oriol Romeu from the Blues in permanent deals.
Meanwhile, Newcastle missed out on young forward Tammy Abraham earlier in the summer with reports stating that the London club did not want him around the party atmosphere of the Toon.