Chelsea pounce for Zak Sturge after he leaves Brighton and hope to add wonderkid Tyler Dibling

Chelsea are set to snap up England under-18 defender Zak Sturge following his departure from Brighton.

Chelsea have revived their pre-sanction interest in promising left-back Sturge and stepped up their attempts to land a number of youth targets following their Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover.

Sturge, 18, who confirmed his departure from the south coast club on social media on Thursday, was highly thought of at Brighton and in the England set up.

Left-back Sturge, 18, left the Seagulls this summer after turning down a contract extension

The club are also aiming to add attacking midfielder Tyler Dibling (above) from Southampton

He featured regularly for Brighton’s under-18s and also made an appearance for the under-23s last season.

For England, he helped the under-18s win their season-ending Four Nations tournament in Croatia this month.

But Brighton were unable to retain him after he turned down a contract extension and Sturge is now on course for a move to Chelsea.

They are set to beat off competition from Leeds and clubs in the Bundesliga who had shown interest in taking Sturge abroad.

Dibling went viral in April after scoring a hat-trick of identical goals for Southampton’s B team

The Blues revived their pre-sanction interest in promising left-back Sturge and stepped up their attempts to land a number of youth targets following the takeover by Todd Boehly (left)

Chelsea are also working to bolster their youth ranks by adding attacking midfielder Tyler Dibling from Southampton, who are braced for his departure.

The 16-year-old went viral in April after scoring a hat-trick of identical goals for Southampton’s B team against Newcastle, who were also keen to sign…