Watford are in talks with Chelsea over Nathaniel Chalobah and are confident the versatile 22-year-old wants to return to Vicarage Road.
The midfielder has just one year left on his contract and although Chelsea were planning to offer a five-year deal, the midfielder wanted assurances over first-team football before signing.
Tiemoue Bakayoko is in line to join from Monaco for £35m, further limiting Chalobah’s opportunities and the England Under-21 international is likely to join Watford, where he had a promising season on loan in 2012-13.
He could cost Watford around £5m, although Chelsea are likely to include a buy-back clause as they also did when Nathan Ake departed for Bournemouth last month.
Chalobah made 42 appearances under Gianfranco Zola when on loan at Vicarage Road in the 2012-13 season.
The 22-year-old will once more link up with Will Hughes under new Watford boss Marco Silva, the pair having been Aidy Boothroyd's first-choice midfield pairing during England Under-21s European Championship campaign this summer, where they reached the semi-finals.
