Chelsea ‘frustrated’ as Abramovich sanctions haulted negotiations for Man City target Haaland

Chelsea are reportedly ‘frustrated’ that the sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich stopped their pursuit of Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland.

The Blues are unable to sign players or even enter into negotiations as a result of the special license put in place by the UK government due to Abramovich’s links with Russia president Vladimir Putin.

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Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said last week that the club would normally “have some targets and we would have for sure contacted some players and found out about their situations [but] our hands are tied.”

And ESPN claim that ‘one of the options senior figures at the club wanted to discuss was Haaland’.

Chelsea approached Dortmund over potentially signing the 21-year-old last summer before they moved for Romelu Lukaku, with the Bundesliga club insisting they wanted to keep him for another season.

Lukaku’s return has been far from successful and the striker is expected to discuss his future at the club when the new owners are in place, as Todd Boehly’s consortium continues to make progress to buy the club.

Should Lukaku leave, the club will likely be on the lookout for a replacement, though it’s unclear how much the new owners will put aside for transfers with the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge thought to be a priority.

And by the time that becomes clear it will likely be too late to land Haaland, who is rumoured to be close to agreeing a deal to move to Manchester City.

The report adds that although the ‘framework of the deal – including agent fees – is already in place’, City ‘will not break their wage structure to land Haaland’.

‘Negotiations over his salary have not gone beyond the