Chelsea set to sign England under-18's Zak Sturge after Brighton exit

Chelsea are set to snap up England under-18 defender Zak Sturge following his departure from Brighton.

Chelsea have revived their pre-sanction interest in promising left-back Sturge and stepped up their attempts to land a number of youth targets following their Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover.

Sturge, 18, who confirmed his departure from the south coast club on social media on Thursday, was highly thought of at Brighton and in the England set up.

He featured regularly for Brighton's under-18s and also made an appearance for the under-23s last season.

For England, he helped the under-18s win their season-ending Four Nations tournament in Croatia this month.

But Brighton were unable to retain him after he turned down a contract extension and Sturge is now on course for a move to Chelsea.

They are set to beat off competition from Leeds and clubs in the Bundesliga who had shown interest in taking Sturge abroad.

Chelsea are also working to bolster their youth ranks by adding attacking midfielder Tyler Dibling from Southampton, who are braced for his departure.

The 16-year-old went viral in April after scoring a hat-trick of identical goals for Southampton's B team against Newcastle, who were also keen to sign him.

That helped earn him promotion to training with Ralph Hasenhüttl's first team and a place on the bench for their Premier League game at Brentford in May.

Chelsea have already raided Southampton this summer to sign Wales under-19 goalkeeper Eddie Beach in a deal worth around £250,000.