Report: BVB Turns Down Chelsea Offer for Erling Haaland

Remember how Sean wrote yesterday that Chelsea would have ‘funds released’ to make a bid for Erling Haaland? Well, it happened; Sky Sports reported that the Champions League winners made their first bid for Haaland, and Borussia Dortmund have turned down their offer.

According to Marc Behrenbeck and Fabrizio Romano, while the bid wasn’t official, Chelsea did come forward with a proposal for a player swap of Tammy Abraham plus cash to bridge the difference for Haaland. Once thought of as the long-term option at Chelsea after scoring 18 goals across all competitions in 2019-20, Abraham fell behind Timo Werner and Oliver Giroud in the depth chart despite tying with Werner for the most goals on the team across all competitions. And with how little they scored last season (58 – fewest goals scored of any English club while qualifying for European football), Haaland’s potential addition would certainly make Chelsea favorites to take at least the Premier League this season, and potentially repeat as Champions League… champions. As for Abraham, a move to Dortmund, one of the best clubs in all of Europe for burgeoning stars of football, wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for getting his promising career back on track.

It’s not a terrible deal, as Dortmund would definitely need a replacement for Haaland and Abraham is a very talented forward that is stuck in the Chelsea “be world-class or you’re out of here” model, but Abraham is valued a shade over $40 million according to Transfermarkt, so they would need to bridge the significant financial gap with a lot of money.

While this was just an informal offer and not an official bid, don’t be surprised if this isn’t the last communication Chelsea, or any other club for that matter, has with Dortmund regarding Haaland. Haaland is certainly the next big thing, and an astronomical demand of €175 million doesn’t seem to be deterring the clubs that can afford that. Its definitely strange that some clubs are willing to try to buy him now while the alleged €75 million release clause kicks in after this coming season would make him an infinitely easier and more affordable option. But hey, who am I to judge opposing clubs trying to break the bank for the next generational footballing star a year before he could become much more attainable?