Chelsea still confident about signing Real Madrid ‘priority target’ Haaland — reports

Chelsea are reportedly willing to go all the way in the summer for the “target of the decade”, Erling Braut Haaland, but that may not be enough in the end. The competition for the best young striker in the world is vast, and ultimately, just as it was back in 2012 with Eden Hazard, it will come down to the player’s own preferences and desires.

Just as with Hazard, Haaland’s ultimate goal is said to be Real Madrid, and according to the always biased Cadena SER, the Borussia Dortmund striker is the “chosen one” for Real as well. The La Liga giants may be feeling the sting of COVID-19 just as much as other clubs, but they will want to strengthen their squad after a relatively poor season on the pitch as well.

Madrid have also been linked with Kylian Mbappé, but his even more exorbitant price tag makes that pursuit far less likely.

Chelsea, should we truly be interested in spending big on Haaland, will obviously try to make things difficult for Real. In fact, according to ESPN and the Evening Standard, we remain confident in tempting the 20-year-old to England, not only thanks to our financial power and our ambitions to match, but by offering him a centre-piece role in Thomas Tuchel’s exciting young squad — provided we qualify for next season’s Champions League.

One club that surprisingly neither Chelsea nor Real (nor any others) will have to worry about in the “Haaland race”, at least for the time being, are Bayern Munich, with the Bundesliga side apparently believing a pursuit of Haaland to be unfeasible (and probably unnecessary) when they have Robert Lewandowski still on the team.