Chelsea reportedly decided against a transfer move for Erling Haaland, who is now set to join Manchester City this summer.
The Norway international has a phenomenal scoring record for Borussia Dortmund, netting 85 times in 88 appearances for the Bundesliga giants in total.
It seems clear Haaland will prove an excellent signing for City, but it seems Chelsea and other clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona had their reservations about the player.
According to ESPN, Chelsea scouts were unsure if Haaland would adjust well to Premier League football – well, we’ll soon find out about that!
Still, that’s a strange conclusion to come to, especially as the same recruitment team clearly thought Romelu Lukaku could do a job at Stamford Bridge this season, only for the summer signing from Inter Milan flopping spectacularly.
The report adds that Real had concerns over Haaland’s fitness, while Barca were worried about the 21-year-old’s lifestyle away from the pitch.
How reliable is this, though? A player as good as Haaland is surely worth gambling on, especially as his release clause at Dortmund allowed him to move on the cheap this summer.
BBC Sport have his Man City transfer fee as just over £51m, so perhaps these clubs are just trying to cover their backs after failing to win the race for his signature.