Tuchel leaves door open for Haaland transfer amid Lukaku concerns

Thomas Tuchel has seemingly indicated Romelu Lukaku's transfer to Chelsea has not ended their interest in Erling Haaland.

The Blues were heavily linked with the Borussia Dortmund star over the summer but were reportedly knocked back in their advances.

Dortmund were in no way interested in selling Haaland in the off-season, despite his £68million release clause coming into play next summer.

Chelsea were prepared to pay considerably more than that figure to beat a host of top clubs to signing the Norwegian.

But after failing in their pursuit, the club instead shelled out a club record £97.5m to land Lukaku, which looked to have solved their striker search.

However, Tuchel's latest comments suggest that may not be the case.

Romelu Lukaku was subbed off against Brentford after drawing another blank ( Image:

Action Images via Reuters)

Asked about Chelsea's interest in Dortmund's star man, Tuchel told SportBild : "We talked about Erling Haaland a couple of times, including during the transfer window. But then it seemed absolutely unrealistic and not at all feasible."

The Chelsea boss then admitted Haaland was still a big topic of conversation among club staff.

"We talk about him regularly, of course, because he's a fantastic player and clearly the defining figure at Dortmund, who is a big rival for us in the Champions League."

Pressed on whether Chelsea could create a formidable partnership between the pair at Stamford Bridge, Tuchel replied: "You mean two at the top [with] Lukaku and Haaland? We can talk about it (laughs)!"

Lukaku's return to Chelsea started superbly, scoring four goals in as many games, but the Belgian has since failed to find the net in his last six outings at club level.

The 28-year-old has been ever present under Tuchel since his arrival, and his manager now feels the workload has had an impact.

"We are in the process of adapting to each other and in my opinion, I feel Romelu is being overplayed," Tuchel said on Wednesday. "I think he played too many competitions over the summer, with his national team and now the Nations League.

"He is a fantastic athlete and such a competitive guy that he wants to win these things.

"If that doesn't work well, he always takes it on his shoulders, thinks about it and reflects and I feel he is mentally tired.

"Not hugely so that we have a concern, but for me he is not fully enjoying it without having second thoughts."

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( Image:

REUTERS)

Interestingly, Tuchel's mention of Lukaku "adapting" to the side is something former Real Madrid striker Antonio Cassano believes the frontman is unable to do.

He said on Twitch: "Lukaku is struggling, he clings to the defender, and it's his teammates who go looking for him.

"Tuchel doesn't have to learn from [Antonio] Conte how to make Lukaku play; a coach shouldn't dare to say things like that to someone who has won what he has won.

"Tuchel, though, could take all kinds of strikers, but Lukaku has nothing to do with his idea of the game; at PSG, at Dortmund, he had different strikers.

"When you play with Conte 50 metres from the goal, it's easy, and then playing in Italy is another thing.

"In England, you have animals defending; in England, he struggles because Lukaku doesn't have that kind of characteristics.

"Chelsea are distorting themselves to get Lukaku into the game, it's Lukaku who has to follow Chelsea's idea, but he doesn't have the characteristics Tuchel wants."

With Timo Werner now being deployed as a wide striker and the likes of Olivier Giroud and Tammy Abraham having moved on, it's not unforeseeable that Chelsea could try and bring in Haaland for another option in attack, though that would doubtless have a knock-on effect on Lukaku's playing time.

Alongside that theory, Tuchel's final comment regarding a move for Haaland was the most telling, where he hinted Lukaku's performance in the coming fixtures could play a part in Chelsea's decision.

"I don't think we've been really serious about it yet," he said. "But let's see what will happen in the next few weeks."