Chelsea in transfer race with Man Utd and Spurs for Germany’s Jonathan Tah but will be made to wait by Bayer Leverkusen

CHELSEA are reportedly leading the race for Germany centre-back Jonathan Tah – but face competition from other Premier League clubs.

Kicker report that Manchester United and Tottenham are also hot on the heels of the Bayer Leverkusen centre-half.

Jonathan Tah has a release clause in his contractRex

The German outlet say many clubs see Tah as a valuable outlet to solving their injury woe – with Liverpool also keen on the defender.

Each of the clubs have a starting central defender out with a long term injury.

Tah, 27, would be a relatively cheap option for any interested party as he has a release clause of £15.5million.

But, that clause does not kick in until the summer and Leverkusen will be reluctant to sell in the January window.

The club are currently top of the Bundesliga, something which was only boosted by Bayern Munich losing 5-1 yesterday to Eintracht Frankfurt.

The club will also be without Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou when they travel to the African Cup of Nations in January.

So selling Tah would leave them heavily depleted at the back.

Leverkusen take on third place Stuttgart today in a battle of the surprise packages in the Bundesliga this season.

If Leverkusen win, they will go six points clear of Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga.

But, they will have played a game more than Tuchel’s side.