Chelsea have made a productive start to the season under Enzo Maresca's stewardship.

The Blues reside in fourth place having won four of their opening seven games playing a possession-based style of play.

Maresca's men have surprised many critics and the consensus is that a return to the Champions League is more than feasible.

To help them in that goal, Chelsea are now looking at a highly-rated midfielder in Italy ahead of the January transfer window.

The Italy international is also attracting interest from Manchester City and AC Milan, so evidently competition is rife.

Ricci, who models his game on Andrea Pirlo per Football Italia, is valued at around PS25m and some reports have already suggested that City are in talks to sign him - as they look for a replacement for the injured Rodri.

Meanwhile, TEAMtalk claim it's unlikely Chelsea will formalise their interest in Ricci as Maresca is happy with his current options.

The former Leicester City boss worked tirelessly to trim his squad in the summer and had to deal with backlash for certain decisions he made, including the exclusion of Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling, who is now on loan at Arsenal.

Chelsea should allocate funds towards a striker If Chelsea are to bring in anyone this Janaury, it should be a striker.

Maresca's only specialist centre-forward is Nicolas Jackson, who can be hit and miss at times, so they should perhaps target Sporting's Viktor Gyokeres.

Gyokeres has continued his prolific form into this season, netting 12 times in 11 appearances so far, alerting interest from Arsenal.

TBR Football reported last month that Gyokeres is open to a move to London.