Frank Lampard has confirmed he tried to sign Erling Haaland before Manchester City while he was manager of Chelsea.
Lampard spent 18 months in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat before being sacked in January 2021.
During his spell in charge of the Blues, Lampard’s Chelsea faced a Red Bull Salzburg side who boasted prolific striker Haaland.
The former England midfielder says it was ‘clear’ then that Haaland would develop into one of the best players in the world and has revealed Chelsea tried to sign the Norwegian star before Man City.
Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 appearances for Borussia Dortmund before joining Manchester City last summer. The 22-year-old has already netted 26 goals in 22 games for Pep Guardiola’s side.
‘He’s an amazing player, that top level of play can come to whatever league, especially when he possesses everything he does,’ Lampard said of Haaland ahead of Everton’s Premier League clash with Man City on New Year’s Eve.
‘I’ve got huge respect for him. I’ve coached against him when he was at RB Salzburg, my eyes were wide open at the time. It was clear in our pre-match preparation what this boy was already.
‘I tried to sign him at Chelsea, it wasn’t to be. And it was clear what he was going to become, so fair play to him.’
Everton travel to the Etihad Stadium sitting 17th in the Premier League, just one point above the relegation zone.
Lampard’s side conceded an injury-time goal against bottom-placed Wolves on Boxing Day and face a Manchester City team who returned to action with a comfortable 3-1 win at Leeds United.
[DON’T MISS] Chelsea make ‘last-minute swap proposal’ as Todd Boehly’s Enzo Fernandez fears emerge
Chelsea have made a last-ditch attempt to save funds before completing one of their imminent transfers.
Chelsea are pressing ahead with a club-record transfer that could see Enzo Fernandez arrive at Stamford Bridge in January, but that big-money deal has reportedly forced Todd Boehly to attempt a last-ditch swap deal to try and save funds elsewhere. The American billionaire has offered a revised deal to AS Monaco in a bid to reduce the cost of Benoit Badiashile’s transfer.
The 21-year-old looked set to join the Blues in a £35million deal this month after the two clubs thrashed out a fee during expedited talks, with Graham Potter keen to add another defender to his ranks. Only the final details were left before the move could be considered to have been completed.
But according to French outlet Media Foot, Chelsea have thrown a spanner in the works by asking to include Malang Sarr in the deal and reduce the fee they would pay for Badiashile.
Sarr, 23, is already on loan with the Ligue 1 outfit and has featured seven times for Philippe Clement’s side this season. And it seems after deeming the centre-back as ‘no longer fitting in their plans’, Chelsea are hoping to use the former Nice defender as a makeweight in the deal.
Chelsea: Todd Boehly has some concerns over their bid for Enzo Fernandez and could use Malang Sarr (Image: Getty Images/Express Sport)
The loan agreement for Sarr includes an obligation to buy the French defender if certain conditions are met, and Chelsea are counting on using that clause to convince Monaco to accept a lower initial fee for Badiashile.
Boehly is apparently concerned about the financial scale of their £112m (€127m) offer to sign Argentina star Fernandez this month. The 21-year-old won the Young Player of the Tournament award after playing a key role in the Albiceleste’s historic triumph in Qatar and Benfica are reluctant to sell as they want to keep him until the end of the season.
Talks are ongoing between the two clubs after Fernandez informed the Portuguese outfit of his desire to join the Blues, although it is understood he would be willing to wait until the summer if the two clubs cannot agree on a fee.
Benoit Badiashile: The Monaco defender is Chelsea-bound (Image: Getty)
Fernandez has a release clause of £106m (€120m) but Chelsea cannot risk paying the entire fee up front due to Financial Fair Play regulations (FFP) and are hoping to structure the deal by paying more overall but in separate instalments – having reached a similar deal with RB Leipzig to sign Christopher Nkunku.
Boehly and Clearlake Capital have already invested over £300m in transfer fees since their £4.25bn takeover was ratified in May, but there is not an endless supply of funds at Stamford Bridge – especially with their £80m committed spending to sign Nkunku, David Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos.
Chelsea fans will be hoping Fernandez is the next player to arrive, but it remains to be seen whether Benfica will accept Chelsea’s staggered offer of payments for the highly-rated midfielder.
SOURCE: metro.co.uk, express.co.uk
