Chelsea have been keeping tabs on Bayer Leverkusen wonderkid Emrehan Gedikli a source close to the player revealed to Turkish-Football.

The Blues are among several sides from the Premier League and across Europe that have been keeping an eye on the development of the highly rated young striker.

The 1.85m tall, powerful striker is widely rated as one of the top striker prospects in German football.

Gedikli has impressive technical ability, tactical awareness and an impressive strike rate.

The 16-year-old has scored 23 times in 25 games this term for the U17 side netting a goal every 79 minutes.

The young forward has also been making a name for himself at international level scoring three times in five appearances for the Germany U16 team.

Despite being born in Germany the rising star is an ethnic Turk and eligible to represent Turkey at senior international level.

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) have targeted Gedikli as a priority player and have already made an offer to switch allegiances.

It remains to be seen which national team he will represent at senior level but he will have the option to play for either Germany or Turkey until he makes his first senior national team appearance.

Chelsea are currently serving a transfer ban which restricts the club from signing players during the next two transfer windows until the end of January 2020.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XON98mQcDJw

The Blues appeal to FIFA to overturn the decision has been turned down but they plan to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Even if the ban were to be overturned Gedikli would be a long-term target.