Chelsea Put Down Marker in Ramos Move

Chelsea's on-going pursuit of a new right-back has prompted serious interest in the Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, with Roman Abramovich willing to spend heavily on a small number of high-quality targets to bolster the Londoners' first-team this summer.

Reports emanating from Spain yesterday claimed a deal worth in excess of £50m had already been struck for Ramos. While that suggestion was very premature and the figure quoted vastly inflated - no direct contact has been made between the clubs or with the player's agent, and the Londoners would not stretch to that price for a defender - it is a sign of Chelsea's ambition that they are considering moving for the Real full-back.

The 22-year-old features on a shortlist that is understood to include Sevilla's Daniel Alves, the attack-minded Brazilian defender who is a longstanding target at Stamford Bridge and came close to signing for them back in August, and the Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm as potential recruits to fill what has proved a problematic berth at right-back.

Abramovich and the club's scouting department, headed by Frank Arnesen, together with the manager Avram Grant intend to see which candidate offers best value for money. "We know our targets in the market," confirmed the manager last week. "We are working towards the players we want." Indeed, Ramos' representatives are aware of the Premier League club's interest and the Spain international could be persuaded to swap La Liga for England after growing frustrated at Real's apparent reluctance to offer him new terms at the Bernabéu.

Ramos, who began his career at Sevilla, became the third most expensive teenager in history when he moved to Real in 2005 for around £20m, signing an eight-year contract in the Spanish capital. He was initially employed as a defensive midfielder or center-half but has since established himself at right-back, impressing both as an attacking threat down the flank and defensively to such an extent that the Milan veteran Paolo Maldini recently suggested he was fast developing into "the best defender in the world".

However, his progress has not been reflected in new personal terms, with the defender still locked into the long-term deal he signed upon arriving from Sevilla three years ago. In the interim, other stalwarts of the La Liga champions such as Iker Casillas, Guti and Raul have signed what Real deem to be "contracts for life" with Ruud van Nistelrooy also putting pen to paper on a new deal this season. That has prompted some resentment in Ramos' camp. Ramos would offer real pedigree with Grant unconvinced that Juliano Belletti, the Brazilian signed last summer from Barcelona, or Paulo Ferreira are the long-term answer at right-back.

Grant has had only one transfer window in which to mold this squad into something approaching his own, recruiting Nicolas Anelka from Bolton and the Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic from Lokomotiv Moscow in January. The 23-year-old center-half has yet to make a first-team appearance and has been recruited very much with next season in mind. Yet, while Grant would ideally only add around three or four top-class players to his current set-up ahead of next term, he is braced to lose squad players who have failed to make their mark at the club this season. Those would include Steve Sidwell, who is interesting Everton, Claudio Pizarro and the former Bolton centre-back Tal Ben Haim. Andriy Shevchenko is expected to rejoin his former club, Milan, after an unconvincing stay in English football.

There are also concerns that some first-team regulars, such as Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho, could agitate for a transfer to rejoin Grant's predecessor at Stamford Bridge, Jose Mourinho, when the Portuguese ends his exile from the game in the summer and takes up the reins at another club.

Their departures would be resisted though, should Chelsea end up being stripped of their services, Abramovich would sanction lavish purchases to replace them.