Chelsea and Man City tracking Bayern Munich gem as father flies to London for talks

16-year-old Bayern Munich centre-back Cassiano Kiala is widely regarded as one of the best young defenders in all of world football

Chelsea and Manchester City are both monitoring 16-year-old Bayern Munich centre-back Cassiano Kiala.

Brexit regulations prevent Premier League clubs from signing foreign talent until they have reached the age of 18.

However, in the case of generational talent Kiala, both Chelsea and City appear to be keen on building potential relations for the future in case the player becomes attainable at a later date.

That's because football.london understands the player's father flew to London on Friday evening to hold meetings with both clubs.

City in particular are believed to be strongly interested in signing Kiala, who joined Bayern from Hertha Berlin in the summer of 2024.

His current Bayern deal runs until June 2027 and he does not turn 18 until January 11 of that same year.

Sources have indicated Kiala's father flew back to Munich on Saturday following his whistle-stop visit to England.

football.london also understands that super-agent Jorge Mendes was in Munich last week to meet the player and his family.

The current direction of travel is that his world-renowned agency Gestifute will be handling Kiala's future, alongside his relatives.

The Germany U17 international is widely regarded as one of Bayern's best young talents and in Bavaria, there is huge confidence he will become a regular at first-team level.

He was already included in the club's Club World Cup squad last summer and although he didn't feature, he has also been training with the first-team since the back end of last season.

Senior centre-back Jonathan Tah is among those to have been particularly complimentary of Kiala, stating when asked if the teenager had what it takes to play for Vincent Kompany's Bundesliga champions: "He absolutely has that. He's fast, good with the ball, and brave. He's a top-class centre-back."

Kiala made a notable impression in pre-season when he featured in friendlies against both Tottenham and Lyon.

Due to his age, the fresh-faced defender was still studying during his time away in the United States at the Club World Cup.

He has been an unused substitute on seven occasions this season for Bayern and is now close to making his senior debut.

At Bayern, there's been an active push from the hierarchy to integrate homegrown talent and that strategy has reaped great rewards following the explosion of talented winger Lennart Karl.