When Frank Lampard went on his multi-million pound spending spree last summer, he acquired some of the best footballing talent in Europe.
Although the likes of Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner are yet to fully fire for the Blues, the dissenting voices at the time of purchase were few and far between.
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However, news that Erling Haaland was available, offered to the west Londoners and was turned down is something of a surprise.
According to the Daily Telegraph and cited by the Daily Star, Chelsea were ‘very close’ to taking the front man, but their dilly-dallying because of his salary demands and agents commission saw them pass up the opportunity.
Given how well he’s started this season, taking up where he left off in 2019/20, Roman Abramovich might well be rueing the fact that he allowed the player to slip through Chelsea’s fingers.
Particularly given how much he ended up allowing Lampard to spend across the window and for which he hasn’t had too much of a return.