Chelsea interim manager Frank Lampard has revealed that he tried to sign Erling Haaland during his first spell in charge of the club. He was appointed as the permanent manager after the departure of Maurizio Sarri, in 2019.
However, the Blues were working under a transfer ban at the time which prevented them from signing any new players. In winter 2020, Haaland moved to Dortmund from RB Salzburg after a very impressive showing in the Champions League with the Austrian side. He went on to score a hat-trick on his debut with the German club, and is now breaking records every week with Manchester City.
Frank Lampard opens up on Chelsea’s failed Erling Haaland transfer
“I don’t know whether he would have decided to come here anyway but I was a big fan of that [signing Erling Haaland],” Lampard told a news conference on Friday ahead of Chelsea’s game vs City. “There are some of those that happen, aren’t there, that people know about or it could have been this way.
“People talk a lot about mistakes or things that could have been in football. Whether he would have come here, I don’t know but I was pushing big and on a few other players at the time. But he was the outstanding one.
“Was it close? He’ll only know the answer to that. What stage did it get to? From our point, I was certainly pushing it. I’m not sure what the appetite was everywhere else in the club to do it.
“The competition was big to take him because he was an outstanding player and I think there was a buyout clause at the time which was relatively reasonable, maybe, considering the player.
“So all those things. I don’t have enough detail to say how close it was, it’s by the by, really.”
Erling Haaland will be looking to extend his record breaking 36-goal tally this season when they face Chelsea in their next weekend to try and secure the Premier League title.
