Thomas Tuchel has opened up on Chelsea’s interest in Erling Haaland and says the forward has formed part of the club’s transfer discussions.
Chelsea were linked with a move for the Borussia Dortmund star during the summer transfer window as the west Londoners sought attacking reinforcements, before completing the £97.5m club-record signing of Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan.
Haaland has been linked with almost every major club in Europe following his stunning emergence in recent seasons, including scoring 70 goals in just 69 appearances since signing for Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg.
Tuchel admits the Norway international was on Chelsea’s radar during the summer, but admits a deal was ‘not at all feasible’.
“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,” Tuchel told SportBild, as per Sport Witness.
“We talk about him regularly, of course, because he’s a fantastic player and clearly the defining figure at Dortmund, who is a big rival for us in the Champions League.”
Erling Haaland makes it look easy 😳
(via @Bundesliga_EN) pic.twitter.com/RqNy9kvNuQ
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 14, 2021
Tuchel was asked whether Chelsea could renew their interest in Haaland next summer, with the 21-year-old possessing a release clause of €75m that will become active in 2022.
The German laughed at the prospect of Haaland forming a partnership with Lukaku at Stamford Bridge, but refused to rule out a potential future move for the star.
“You mean two at the top [with] Lukaku and Haaland? We can talk about it!” he said, before reportedly laughing.
“I don’t think we’ve been really serious about it yet, but let’s see what will happen in the next few weeks,” he added.
