Chelsea is reportedly planning to include Eden Hazard in their bid to acquire Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci in January.

Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte has long been a fan of the Juventus center back because he was one of his regular starters when he served as the Italy national team manager from 2014 to the middle of this year.

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The 47-year-old Italian boss resigned as Gli Azzurri manager at the end of the Euro 2016 competitions after he accepted the head coaching position at the Stamford Bridge earlier this year.

Juve is reportedly prepared to part ways with Bonucci if the side of the English Premier League will "break the world record transfer fee for a defender and add Cesc Fabregas in exchange," according to The Sun.

The current world transfer record for a defender is held by Brazilian David Luiz when he was acquired by Paris Saint-Germain from Chelsea for £50 million in 2014. Luiz has now returned to the Blues when he was bought back from PSG for a reported fee of £34 million in August.

However, Conte is said to be aiming to lessen Bonucci's cost by including Hazard, arguably Chelsea's best player right now, in a swap package.

Hazard was the 2014-2015 Premier League Player of the Season when the Pensioners won their title. He was also a back-to-back Chelsea Player of the Year awardee in 2014 and 2015.

The 25-year-old Belgium international player had also fought off recent interests from Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain as he claimed he wanted to stay with Chelsea even before Conte arrived this summer.

Caught Offside reported that Conte is "desperate" to acquire Bonucci because he already knows what "he could potentially bring to the Chelsea backline."

The Belgian is currently struggling in the English top-flight this season, though, with only two goals in nine games so far. His current scoring rate is less than what he had in 2014-2015 when he scored 14 goals in 38 Premier League games.  

Tags Football Transfer Rumors, Football Transfer Rumors 2016, Eden Hazard, Chelsea FC, Leonardo Bonucci, Juventus FC