Chelsea tried to beat Man City to Haaland transfer
Robin Bairner
- 17 Sept 2022 09:30 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea spoke to Borussia Dortmund about a transfer for Erling Haaland before he moved to Manchester City, it has been revealed.
Haaland has been a revelation with the Premier League champions, immediately looking at home as he has scored 13 goals in nine games for Pep Guardiola’s side.
However, the season might have looked very different had Chelsea succeeded in a move to sign the Norway international from the Bundesliga side.
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Fabrizio Romano has reported that Chelsea held an interest in the forward.
“Another Premier League also wanted to sign Haaland before he joined Manchester City,” he told Caught Offside.
“Chelsea attempted to sign Haaland before he left Borussia Dortmund, but the German club insisted he was not for sale at the time.
“After losing Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner this summer, Todd Boehly wanted to bring in another striker, but by then it was too late to sign Haaland, as he had already agreed to join Manchester City.”
Chelsea’s summer transfer hunt
Chelsea chased several forwards after missing out on Haaland before eventually settling on signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona. Previously, they had used fellow summer signing Raheem Sterling as a No.9.
They were offered the opportunity to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, which was a prospect that FootballTransfers revealed intrigued Blues owner Todd Boehly. Ultimately, no deal was completed as Thomas Tuchel, who was sacked earlier this month, decided he did not want the Portuguese for his project.
A subsequent offer was made for AC Milan forward Raphael Leao, but Chelsea were unable to get close to the asking price of the Serie A champions, who see the young Portuguese as a future €100m player.
Chelsea’s prospects of signing Leao in January or indeed next summer, meanwhile, appear to be fading as the striker could sign a new deal with the Italian club. Manchester City are also interested in the forward, who can also operate in a wider role.
