Long-term admirers Liverpool look to have been priced out of paying Werner's release clause of around $66 million in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, leaving Roman Abramovich to bankroll a move for the potent 24-year-old, who will reportedly earn more than $11 million a season at Stamford Bridge.

Reds boss Jurgen Klopp was thought to have attempted to lure the striker to Anfield in a video call last week, but Chelsea have stepped in just 11 days before the release clause needs to be met and are now clear favorites to add the international regular to their squad next season.

Werner's formidable tally of 31 goals this season includes four in eight appearances in the Champions League, including the only goal of the match as Leipzig won 1-0 at Chelsea's London rivals, Tottenham, on their way to the Champions League quarter-finals.

That will have impressed Abramovich and Blues coach Frank Lampard, whose side are on track to qualify for the most prestigious competition in Europe next season but were crushed 3-0 at home to Bayern in the first leg of their round of 16 tie, with the return match resembling little more than a formality for their German opponents should the tournament resume later this year.

Lewandowski scored Bayern's third that night, and the less experienced Werner has performed commendably to keep in touch with the runaway Bundesliga goalscorer in an inferior team.

The youngest ever scorer for former club Stuttgart, Werner has netted 25 times in 29 league games for Leipzig during the current campaign, contributing four more assists than Lewandowski and becoming the only player apart from the Poland forward to have scored more than 20 goals in the division so far.

Fourth-placed Chelsea and the three sides above them are the only clubs to have scored more than 50 goals in the Premier League this season, but Lampard is heavily reliant on England striker Tammy Abraham, whose 15 league goals put him eight ahead of the next highest scorer in the squad.