Chelsea 'tried to sign Haaland' in summer; Boehly made a "verbal offer of 70 million euros" for an alternative

Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Chelsea 'tried to sign Erling Haaland' in the summer before joining rivals Manchester City.

Haaland was still likely to leave Borussia Dortmund this summer when his release clause became active.

Man City moved quickly to secure his services and he joined the Premier League champions for around £51million.

Five Prem summer signings made for a total of £66m that currently look a little wasteful

The striker caused a stir at the start of the 2022/23 campaign. He has already scored 13 goals in just nine outings in all competitions. His tally was boosted with Premier League hat-tricks against Nottm Forest and Crystal Palace.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Liverpool had the chance to sign Haaland when he was at Molde.

Man Utd also chased him, but they missed Borussia Dortmund in the 2019/20 campaign.

Romano has now revealed that Chelsea tried to sign Haaland in the summer before joining Man City:

"Erling Haaland was targeted by several clubs at Borussia Dortmund," Romano wrote for Caught Offside.

"Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich and of course Manchester City were all looking to sign the Norwegian, but in the end Pep Guardiola got his man.

"However, another Premier League also wanted to sign Haaland before he joined Manchester City.

"Chelsea tried to sign Haaland before he left Borussia Dortmund, but the German club insisted he was not for sale at the time.

"After losing Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner in the summer, Todd Boehly wanted to bring in another striker, but by then it was too late to sign Haaland, as he had already agreed to join Manchester City."

Chelsea's record of signing strikers is about as bad as it gets. Last summer they splashed out £97.5million to re-sign Lukaku from Inter Milan.

The former Man Utd player struggled and towards the end of last year proclaimed he was looking for an exit.

Lukaku got his wish this summer as he is now back at Inter Milan. Timo Werner is also out on his return to RB Leipzig.

The Blues signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on deadline day but before that they were looking to sign Rafael Leao from AC Milan.

Romano also revealed that Chelsea 'made a verbal offer' for Leao but AC Milan were 'unwilling to sell':

"AC Milan have insisted Leao is not for sale. The Portuguese striker has a €150m release clause and Milan don't want to sell Leao unless that figure is be achieved,” Romano continued.

"Chelsea wanted to bring Leao in during the summer transfer window, but unless they paid the 150 million euros, it was never possible for Chelsea to sign the striker.

“Chelsea never made a formal offer, but they made a verbal offer of around €70m plus surcharges.

"However, AC Milan were unwilling to sell Leao at this price, around half of his contract's €150m release clause."