Borussia Dortmund have opened talks to sign Chelsea defender Renato Veiga on an initial loan deal.

The Blues would prefer a permanent sale should the Portugal international, 21, leave but an obligation to buy at the end of the season could satisfy their demands.

Chelsea have not encouraged the approach from the German club and have already turned down a loan approach from Wolves this month.

Veiga has a substantial role in Enzo Maresca’s squad, starting the majority of matches in cup competitions – including Saturday’s 5-0 win over Morecambe in the FA Cup third round.

However, Veiga is understood to want to explore his options, as he prefers to play in a more central area of the pitch, having started mostly at left-back as cover for regular starter Marc Cucurella.

Veiga only joined Chelsea in a £12m deal from FC Basel in the summer and Maresca spoke on Friday about how he “trusted” Veiga.

But the Italian manager also dropped him for a match at home to Fulham for a “technical decision” in late December.

Chelsea want to sell Ben Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei in January, while Maresca has denied the club are pushing Veiga, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Axel Disasi out of the club despite interest.