Chelsea have agreed a deal with Crystal Palace to sign Maxence Lacroix.
The France defender has now been given permission to finalise the transfer.
It is understood Chelsea gave Palace the chance to discuss signing one of their defenders available for transfer during talks.
There has been interest from other clubs in Axel Disasi, Trevoh Chalobah and Benoit Badiashile.
Palace have been concentrating on Augsburg centre-back Chrislain Matsima.
But they are now prepared to walk away, having become frustrated with the speed of negotiations with the German club.