Chelsea lead the race for Portuguese starlet Bruno Fernandes

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Bengaluru, May 1: London giants Chelsea seems to have stolen a march on their rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in the pursuit of Portuguese midfield maestro Bruno Fernandes.

The Sporting Lisbon midfielder has been in the sights of the Premier League trio as well a host of other clubs after an impressive first season with the Portuguese giants.

And, according to Portuguese daily A Bola, Chelsea have now made contact with the Portuguese international's agent.

However, the Blues may have to negotiate a hefty fee with Sporting, who inserted a 100million euro (£88m) release fee when they signed him from Sampdoria last summer.

Fernandes has netted 16 goals and laid on 20 assists in his 53 games for Sporting, who sit five points behind of league leaders Porto with four games to go before the season ends.

He struggled to make a mark in the early part of his career, having come through the ranks at Boavista before moving to Italy when he was 18.

After one season at Serie B outfit Novara he earned a move up a flight to Udinese.

Three full campaigns later he moved to Sampdoria and then he left them for a return to his homeland in a deal worth around £7m last summer.

Fernandes has won four caps for Portugal and will expect to be in Fernando Santos' squad and even in the starting XI for the World Cup.

The 23-year-old is capable of playing anywhere in midfield and is an all-action midfielder.

His best traits are his vision, passing range, technique and flair. He can be deployed as a number eight or as a number ten or even on the flanks.

We have seen many brilliant talents sparking in the Premier League from Portuguese Premier League and Bruno Fernandes could be the next big deal emerging from the country of Cristiano Ronaldo.

If Chelsea can land the Portuguese, it will be a piece of bad news for Ross Barkley, Danny Drinkwater and Tiemone Bakayoko who have all failed to impress at Stamford Bridge in their first seasons.

We have to wait and see what happens to the Chelsea hotseat ahead of the next season though with Antonio Conte likely to be axed following a poor season at the club.