Sources: Sergio Aguero still a backup option, latest on Erling Haaland and Lukaku

There is a lot going around about Chelsea's striker pursuit, here is the latest from our info

It is about time we bought you an update on our striker pursuit for this summer, because this remains a priority for the club and for Thomas Tuchel in the next transfer market.

I’ve been seeing a lot of noise surrounding our pursuit for Erling Haaland and Romelu Lukaku, and there are quite a few reports writing us off for both.

What I will say is don’t believe everything you read, and certainly don’t listen to club directors, managers etc around this time of year, you will rarely get honest answers when talking about potential transfer deals, they just cannot divulge it for many reasons.

Lukaku is very happy at Inter Milan, that is true. But it by far rules him out from moving to Chelsea this summer. As I have said, this is dependent on so many other things and could turn in a number of directions from now until the end of the transfer window.

Meanwhile, Dortmund want to keep Erling Haaland regardless of whether they get Champions League football, this is true. Of course they do. However, that doesn’t mean they will. Money talks in this business and this one has been moving behind the scenes.

Chelsea still feel a deal can be done and they have been crunching the numbers and holding discussions with both Haaland’s party and Dortmund over the last few weeks, nothing is impossible here I will say that.

Haaland staying at Dortmund does get stronger if they get Champions League football of course, but they could potentially lose out on around £40million odd if they keep him this summer and let a club trigger his release clause next summer. This is far from a dead rumour.

Finally, I’m told that Sergio Aguero is still very much a genuine backup option for Chelsea, and a name that is coming up even more in discussions recently.

It is still Barcelona who are the favourites to sign him, but this could also still turn in a number of directions yet.

Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport)