Dortmund Norwegian striker Erling Haaland is reportedly set to reject the chance to join Chelsea as he doesn’t consider the Blues a big enough club.
The 20-year-old could be on the move this summer, and every top side in Europe has been linked with his signature.
His agent, Mino Raiola, recently revealed only ten clubs will be able to afford him, with Chelsea, Liverpool and both Manchester clubs thought to be among them.
Meanwhile, talkSPORT’s European football expert Mark Langdon recently revealed the Premier League is Haaland’s most likely destination due to financial problems at Barcelona and Real Madrid.
However, according to respected German publication BILD, the Norwegian is only considering six clubs as opposed to ten – and Chelsea are not one of them.
Recent reports claimed Blues owner Roman Abramovich has sanctioned the move for a big-money bid, but BILD claims Haaland doesn’t want to take an intermediate step in his career and wants to instead join ‘an absolute top club’ – with Chelsea not fitting the striker’s requirements.
The news will come as a boost to Man United, who continue to be linked with Haaland after failing to sign him in January 2020.
Dortmund are expected to demand as much as £150m this summer for Haaland, whose £65m release clause does not become active until June 2022.
United are among the wealthiest clubs in the world, but manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists COVID-19’s impact on football means not even the Red Devils will be able to flex their financial muscles this summer.
“It’s definitely affecting everyone in football, the pandemic,” he said. “Of course the lack of income, the finances that have affected everyone and it might affect us all well.
“We have to be realistic, we have to be responsible in the way we do our business both on and off the pitch.
“There’s improvements on the training ground, stadium. We just have to look at the whole picture.
“W here can we spend the money? And how much is there? It’s just the real world now. It has changed.”
