Chelsea Target Erling Haaland Reportedly Placed On “Emergency Sales List” By Borussia Dortmund

Erling Haaland is reported to have been placed on an “emergency sales list” by Bayern Munich, according to reports in Germany. The 20-year-old goal machine scored a brace against Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday to register 18 goals in just 13 appearances in the competition, yet Dortmund may have no choice but to let him go in the summer.

Haaland has only been with BVB a year, however, he’s become a target for all of the major, free-spending clubs in Europe and could be the subject of a bidding war at the end of the season. The striker has a €75m release clause set to activate within his contract in 2022; it’s reported that Premier League side Chelsea are ready to pay significantly more to get him before it comes into play.

Back in January, The Athletic reported Chelsea had made Haaland their prime target.

“Given the impact of COVID-19 on many club’s finances, Chelsea feel the end of the season is the opportune time to move for one of the world’s most sought-after talents — despite the ambitious nature of the move,” the publication claimed. “The west London side are aware they face stiff competition for Haaland’s signature, but they believe many of their rivals will wait for the summer of 2022 and the release clause to kick in.

“Chelsea are also keen to bring in another centre-forward, given the expectation that Olivier Giroud will leave when his contract expires in June.”

Naturally, It would be expected that the Bundesliga side would fight to keep their scoring sensation but, as German source WAZ puts it, BVB could be keen on selling due to money problems. The outlet claims Dortmund has already lost €26m that would have come in through matchday revenue and stand to lose a further €75m should they fail to qualify for Champions League football for next season.

WAZ claims the club has drawn up an eight-man list of players who should be sold, per Sport Witness. The list is said to include Haaland, as well as Jadon Sancho, Axel Witsel, Manuel Akanji, Mahmoud Dahoud, Giovanni Reyna, Jude Bellingham, and Raphael Guerreiro. Reyna, Bellingham, Guerreiro, and Haaland are last resort sales, however.

Among the aforementioned players, Sancho is expected to be the most likely to leave. That could be because he’s been wanting out for quite a while. The former Manchester City attacker was heavily linked with Manchester United last year, while Chelsea was also thought to be in the mix.

“The last four are more ‘medium-term’ departures but missing out on Europe could force top players, such as Haaland, to rethink their situation,” Sport Witness has relayed. “Sancho, though, is very much the one who could be move one and after Manchester United’s interest last summer, they know there’s at least one suitor.”

It’s also been claimed that the German side could lower their asking price for Sancho from €120m to €100m. It should be an interesting summer on the transfer front and Dortmund could be a major player in the market given they have two of the most coveted attackers in Europe under their employ. Fans would find that the transfer market is covered by the Best Sportsbooks across the European leagues as odds are hardly restricted to just results and in-game events.

As it pertains to Chelsea’s interest in Haaland, The Athletic’s report was published before the Blues replaced Frank Lampard with Thomas Tuchel. The new boss is confident he could get the club’s strikers firing again and his claims appear to be bearing fruit. Tuchel recently told reporters all thoughts of supplementing his roster with attacking talent have been put on hold, with the focus on getting the likes of Timo Werner back among the goals.

The former RB Leipzig got his goal this week on the back of a depressing scoreless run, sticking one between the poles against Newcastle on Monday. There had been signs of improvement in prior appearances under Tuchel and there was a sense the goal was coming after he won penalties in the two outings he made before playing the Magpies.

“It is my job to create chances and create spaces and make everybody understand how our strikers love to have the ball,” Tuchel says ahead of his side’s 2-0 win over Newcastle on Monday. “How they can be the most dangerous guys that they can be because they have quality.

“Now it is on us, me and the teammates to create chances and the amount of chances that they can score.”

The new boss has enough time to get the best from Werner, with plenty of coaching still to be done between now and the end of the current campaign. Should things not work out and Haaland become available, as reports coming out of Germany suggest, we could see the Blues make a move for the Norway international.