Chelsea scouts reportedly raised concerns over Erling Haaland’s suitability for the Premier League before his mega move to Manchester City.
According to ESPN, those behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge suggested the striker’s playing style might not work in England because of the lack of space afforded to attacking players.
This theory will be tested very soon.
Yesterday, City confirmed the £51m (BBC) signing of Borussia Dortmund’s centre-forward, subject to finalising terms with the player.
The whole of football either reacted with excitement, fear, or concern following the huge announcement.
Will anybody be able to halt Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut now they have a steam roller spearheading their project?
Can City be stopped now Erling has arrived?
Adding Haaland’s goals to City’s creativity and cutthroat nature is both mesmerising and frightening at the same time.
Two words that haven’t been associated with Thomas Tuchel’s team for a while, but could have been had they beaten their league rival to the punch last summer.
Chelsea had Haaland in their sights throughout the previous warm transfer window, aware of the need to provide Tuchel with a proper number nine.
They failed to strike a deal with Dortmund, so instead turned to Inter Milan and the re-signing of Romelu Lukaku.
Several reasons have been served up as to why the Blues never landed their initial target.
However, perhaps the concerns raised by the scouts might have something to do with it.
Were Chelsea right to raise concerns over Haaland?
It is true that the Premier League in general offers less room for manoeuvre than most, if not all, of Europe’s top five divisions.
Which perhaps explains why so many strikers have moved to England from across the continent and struggled to settle.
Take Lukaku for example, who has not exactly proved to be a burning success since his switch back to Britain from Serie A.
Andriy Shevchenko, Radamel Falcao, Hernan Crespo and Alvaro Morata, all ex-Chelsea players, also failed to live up to expectations after landing in the Premier League.
Nobody can for certain know whether this will or will not happen to Haaland.
For the sake of the league, we hope it’s the former.
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