Chelsea will have to stump up £70 million for 82-goal Dortmund forward

Premier League leaders Chelsea have been told that they’ll need to break their transfer record to land Borussia Dortmund attacker Marco Reus in the summer, according to The Sun.

The German international has struggled with injury for most of the current campaign, and suffered a hamstring issue only yesterday in their 6-2 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, which looks set to keep him out until at least next month.

Despite a testing campaign, Reus’ quality is undoubted, having netted 76 times for the Bundesliga side in his four full seasons at the club, and this has unsurprisingly attracted much interest from the Premier League, with leaders Chelsea and top four contenders Arsenal and Liverpool reportedly keeping an eye on the 27-year-old.

Blues boss Antonio Conte will be hoping to strengthen his squad ahead of their likely Champions League campaign next term, as well as their title defence if they do indeed turn their seven-point advantage at the top of the Premier League into a fifth title in 12 years come May.

However, to land Reus the West London side will have to break their record transfer fee, the £50 million they paid Liverpool for Fernando Torres back in 2011, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Chelsea hierarchy are willing to spend £70 million on a player who has missed a large chunk of the 2016/17 season through injury.

Nonetheless, with Arsenal and Liverpool still in the hunt for the German attacker, it looks set to be a transfer saga that could rumble on for much of the summer.