Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that the club has discussed a move for Erling Haaland and has not ruled out partnering the Borussia Dortmund striker with club-record signing Romelu Lukaku at Stamford Bridge.
Haaland was mentioned as a target for a number of European giants during the most recent transfer window on the back of a first full campaign with Dortmund that saw him register 41 goals in the same number of appearances in all competitions.
The 21-year-old Norway international has 70 goals in 69 games for the Bundesliga side in all competitions since making his debut in January 2020 with only Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski (88 goals in 73 games) has a better return among players from Europe’s top five leagues.
Borussia Dortmund star and Chelsea target Erling Haaland. | PHOTO: Courtesy |
He still has two and a half years to run on his contract at Signal Iduna Park and Dortmund was under no pressure to sell their prolific marksman in the close season after offloading star winger Jadon Sancho to Manchester United for £72.9million (€85m or $100.4m).
However, a rumored release clause of €75m will come into effect at the end of the current campaign and Tuchel indicated Chelsea could still make a move for the in-demand striker.
“We talked about Erling Haaland a couple of times, including during the transfer window. But then it seemed absolutely unrealistic and not at all feasible,” he spoke ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Malmo at Stamford Bridge.”
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed the club’s interests in Erling Haaland ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Malmo. | PHOTO: Courtesy |
“We still talk about him regularly, of course, because he’s a fantastic player and clearly the defining figure at Dortmund, who are a big rival for us in the Champions League.”
Chelsea instead re-signed Romelu Lukaku from Inter ahead of the 2021-22 campaign and the Belgium international has scored four goals in his first 10 games back in west London.
Lukaku’s minutes-per-goal return of 129.04 at club level since January 2020 is among the best in Europe, but it is still some way off Haaland’s 81.74.
Asked if both Haaland and Lukaku could play alongside each other on the same side, Tuchel said: “We can talk about it. I don’t think we’ve been really serious about it yet, but let’s see what will happen in the next few weeks.”
Chelsea host Malmo tonight at Stamford Bridge before hosting Norwich on Saturday at noon in an early kickoff Premier League meeting.
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