Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that the Blues have spoken about Borussia Dortmund goal-machine Erling Haaland.
Erling Haaland, 21, has emerged as one of the hottest properties in European football in recent years, having shot to fame at Austrian outfit Red Bull Salzburg before enjoying a meteoric rise in Germany with Borussia Dortmund.
The Norwegian international has plundered 70 goals in 69 appearances since joining Dortmund in January 2020, thereby, attracting interest from a host of European clubs.
One of those is Chelsea with manager Thomas Tuchel, who has not ruled out the possibility of bringing in Erling Haaland next year. He stated in an interview that there are “regular” chats about a potential transfer for the Borussia Dortmund star.
“We have talked about Haaland a couple of times also in the transfer window. It looked unrealistic and not possible to do. Of course we talk regularly about him because he is a fantastic player and a profile at Dortmund, which is a big rival for us in the Champions League,” Tuchel told SportBild (h/t The Sun).
Haaland has a €75 million release clause in his contract which can be triggered next summer, making him a bargain due to his quality, age and experience.
Erling Haaland to Chelsea – Will he fit in Thomas Tuchel’s system?
After Chelsea missed out on Erling Haaland in the summer, they spent a club-record £97.5 million to sign Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan.
Lukaku has gone off the boil following a bright start to the season and suffered an ankle injury in the Blues’ 4-0 win over Malmo in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Belgian striker, who has gone seven games without a goal, will be out for a few games and that has put Tuchel in a spot of bother. Forward Timo Werner also limped off against Malmo with what looked like a hamstring problem, and that has exacerbated things.
Chelsea have netted 16 goals in eight Premier League games and lead the standings. However, they haven’t always found goals easy to come by with Lukaku enduring a few tough games since his return to the club.
While Werner, Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech are yet to show signs of sharing the goal-scoring burden off Lukaku’s shoulders, the Blues manager must continue trusting them and avoid taking a dip in the transfer market for another goal-scorer.
As far as Haaland is concerned, he is a generational talent blessed with incredible pace, power and physique at such a tender age. He has taken the footballing world by storm over the last few seasons with his goal-scoring ability and is only going to improve with time, age and experience.
The Norwegian international would be a fantastic addition to most top sides in Europe. But, would be a good addition to Chelsea? Tuchel has an array of attacking options at his disposal, which begs the question of where Haaland would play if Chelsea sign him.
Lukaku’s form may have dipped of late but he is in the peak of his powers and it’s only a matter of time before goals start flowing for him, while Werner is slowly starting to understand his role at Chelsea. Not to forget, Christian Pulisic is yet to contribute majorly due to his injury problems this season.
The west Londoners have enough attacking talent in their squad that makes it extremely difficult to see Lukaku, Haaland, Werner, Havertz and Pulisic fit in the starting XI.
Even if Haaland is on his way to becoming one of the best goal-scorers of his generation, Chelsea signing him next summer doesn’t make sense at all.