Borussia Dortmund have publicly insisted that they want to keep Erling Haaland beyond this season, but that obviously hasn’t deterred Chelsea, who were (most likely) one of the four Premier League teams mentioned by his agent, Mino Raiola the other day as viable suitors.
As per BILD (via Sport Witness), the Blues’ higher-ups have approved Thomas Tuchel’s request to sign the player, and are willing to meet the asking price of €110m. (Though given that the links with Haaland started before Tuchel was even appointed, this push is much more likely to be coming from the Board themselves, rather than the coach.) As per Sport1, the Blues have a budget of over €250m for the summer, and are obviously willing to bring in world-class players to reinforce the squad.
Jadon Sancho is also mentioned as another potential signing, but he’s much more likely to go to Manchester United and ranks below Haaland in our priority order anyway. Unlike Chelsea, BVB appear to be in a poor place financially, and the potential absence of Champions League football next season could hasten their big players’ departures. BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke doesn’t sound nearly as confident as he did just a few weeks ago.
“In the midst of a pandemic, I no longer rule anything out. But it is not necessarily aspired to. Above all, there is the financial balance: that we have a strong team on the field and are economically stable at the same time. Asking banks for credit lines at the drop of a hat just to avoid selling a player will not be our way.”
- Hans-Joachim Watzke; source: Handelsblatt via Mirror
Should their goal-machine depart, Dortmund could look to bring back Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad. The 21-year-old has been in good form this season, scoring 12 goals and providing 2 assists in 30 games, and Dortmund may have a buy-back clause.
Meanwhile, Haaland’s arrival at Chelsea could have repercussions for the futures of Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud, which is a story that has been gaining some attention over the past few weeks as well. Giroud’s yearly contract cycle means he will be looking hard at his current situation once again before making any decisions about his career at age 34, while Abraham’s become even more reluctant to commit his future to the club. The latter was already a problem of course, even stretching back to last season, and that was well before the Haaland rumors had even started! Abraham will have two more years left on the extension that triggered last season however, so it’s not an emergency situation just yet.
That said, the road to Erling Haaland may cost us more than just money.
Haaland, Giroud, Tammy and the future of Chelsea's no9 position.
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) February 27, 2021
*Worth noting that Armando Broja is regarded as someone with the ability to make it at Chelsea by the higher ups too https://t.co/kiKPOw1woh #CFC #CHEMUN