Are Chelsea really turning to Haaland alternatives, and what calibre do they need to be if so?

The striker situation is still no clearer to being concluded

As you know, we have been on top of Chelsea’s pursuit of Erling Haaland for some time now here at Si & Dan Talks Chelsea.

We were the first to report Chelsea advancing in their idea to try and sign Haaland this summer, and our report was swiftly followed by similar reports from the big dogs The Athletic, and The Telegraph.

Since then, all has gone very quiet, albeit many reports of Chelsea weighing up a bid. This, as we also reported in a follow up to our original news that we were advancing for Haaland, is also true. Chelsea HAVE been ‘weighing up’ a bid.

But what does this actually mean?

In short, it means we have been thinking about making an official offer for Haaland this summer, and summing up how much we can pay, how it will effect other deals, how we would look to make the payments for him, and will we want to include any players in our offer.

It also involves enquiries with Dortmund to test the waters and see if they would be open to selling Haaland for the right fee - These have at this moment in time, been received negatively by Dortmund, who have said they want to keep him.

As we know, ‘no’ most definitely does not mean ‘no’ in this business. It just means that Chelsea will have to pay a hell of a lot of money to sign Haaland.

Chelsea have not ‘agreed terms’ with Haaland as many have believed, but they have spoken to his reps and terms will not be a problem. This is totally normal to do this when you want to sign a player, because you wont go to the full trouble of weighing up and then eventually making an offer to sign him, and then terms cannot be agreed. You always make sure the player would be keen first, well at least that is what you should be doing.

So at the moment, that is where we are. I’ve heard nothing new since I was told we are preparing a bid, and as I’ve said on here loads, that could be a good thing or a bad thing - we notoriously conduct business on the quiet, so let’s hope it’s a good thing.

Anyway, are alternatives being looked at? Short answer is yes, absolutely.

However, I do not know just how far down the list of potential alternative targets Chelsea are prepared to go, and there are a lot of names on this list, some higher than others.

For me though, Chelsea NEED to sign a proven goal scorer of the highest calibre, I’m not so keen to dip too far down the pecking order of targets.

Romelu Lukaku is behind Haaland as a target, but he would also be very tough to pull off at this point.

Stuttgart striker Saša Kalajdžić is also an option for Chelsea, according to a report from The Athletic on Monday morning.

The Austrian international stands at 6ft 7in tall and is clearly a good striker with a lot of potential. But for me, he is yet to be a regular ‘proven’ goal scorer, and that is what we need.

I’ll get bashed for this I’m sure, but IF we aren’t signing Haaland, Lukaku, or another proven goal scorer at the top level, and Tammy Abraham is not signing a new contract, then I’d put £20m down for Danny Ings.

I know he isn’t the best striker in the world, but he is a proven goal scorer in the box, and this is what we need.

It’s fine to say ‘I’d rather just keep Tammy though’ and whilst yes you have a point, Thomas Tuchel clearly doesn’t fancy Abraham, and in my view I have always said we must back the manager with whatever he wants, so I must remain consistent with that.

Abraham also has 2 years left on his contract, so if we don’t sell him this summer, we would lose him for significantly less money than what we would get for him this summer.

I’d rather have Ings in the squad than stick with what we have, even though I do expect to see big improvements from both Kai Havertz and Timo Werner this season, it would remain a big risk. I’d certainly not be ‘happy’ with Ings though, I want Haaland.

And I maintain, Haaland is MY priority, and until I hear confirmation otherwise, he also remains Chelsea’s priority for now.

Simon Phillips