Chelsea chasing £9million Newcastle star - Exclusive

Chelsea are lining up a £9million summer swoop for Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor.

The Blues are already planning for the ­introduction next season of the Premier League’s home-grown quota system and targeted the ­ex-England Under-21 ­skipper as an ideal recruit to boost their domestic numbers.

The 24-year-old has been on Chelsea’s radar since the days of Jose Mourinho, but the looming home-grown quota has hardened their interest this season.

Chelsea scout Bryan “Pop” Robson, a former Magpie, has been a regular visitor toSt James’ Park this term, where Taylor has been in eye-catching form at the heart of a Magpies defence that has proved one of the meanest in the Championship.

A knee injury has kept Taylor out since January 18, but it isn’t as bad as first feared and the centre- back is expected to be playing again in April. It had been expected that the much-coveted Taylor would leave Newcastle last summer after the club was relegated from the Premier League and the manager he had publicly backed, Alan Shearer, was snubbed by owner Mike Ashley.

Several top-flight clubs, led by Everton, chased Taylor’s signature, but he surprised everyone by deciding not to join the mass exodus that saw Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins, Damien Duff, Sebastien Bassong, Mark Viduka and Habib Beye leave.

Taylor revealed to ­Sunday Mirror Sport last month that he decided to stay and play in the Championship because he felt a sense of personal ­responsibility about being part of the relegated side .

Taylor said: “I could not have lived with that. I stayed ­because I wanted to be in the team that came back up. I owed the club that.”

Now Chelsea will see if they can prise Taylor away from Tyneside next season when the new rules will give more squad places to domestically-reared players. Their case would be helped if Newcastle gained promotion as the player could then justifiably claim to have kept his side of the ­bargain by helping to return the Magpies to the top flight.

But by the same token, if Newcastle miss out there could well be a fire sale of their top assets as the club looks to balance the books.

Either way, the prospect of a move to Chelsea is bound to be tempting to Taylor with Champions League football on offer as well as the chance to play alongside John Terry.

Taylor’s combative style has been compared to that of Terry and he’s frequently ­expressed his admiration for the ­deposed England ­captain.

From next season the ­Premier League will enforce a squad cap of 25 players with a quota of eight ­home-grown players.

The definition of home-grown is that qualifying players must have trained for three years under the age of 21 with clubs in the ­English and Welsh ­professional systems.

The rule change is bound to increase valuations of home-grown players, especially among the Big Four who have a lot of foreigners.