Chelsea turned down 48-goal machine before signing Lukaku

Chelsea turned down Robert Lewandowski before signing Romelu Lukaku

According to BILD (h/t Mirror), Chelsea turned down the chance to sign Robert Lewandowski before they signed Romelu Lukaku. Christian Falk from BILD revealed that Lewandowski’s agent Pini Zahavi offered the player to Chelsea for €80m but the Blues refused to pay that amount for a 32-year-old.

Chelsea and their strikers haven’t always had a good working relationship. From the likes of Alvaro Morata to Timo Werner, their ambitious deals to supplement the attack has failed at times. However, the Blues were ready to go all out again this summer to sign another striker after struggling to score goals at a free rate last season.

The Blues looked to the Bundesliga at first with options such as Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski. The latter, who scored 48 goals in all competitions last season, was linked with an exit from Bayern Munich over the summer as he wanted a different challenge. A move to Chelsea was on the cards as the club were looking to add a striker.

Indeed, it has been revealed by Christian Falk of BILD that the Polish veteran was offered to Chelsea by his agent Pini Zahavi. However, a steep asking price of €80m meant that Chelsea were not willing to pay the same for a 32-year-old. Instead, Chelsea went on to sign Lukaku for a £97.5million fee.

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Perhaps Chelsea took the right call here. After all, Lukaku is four years younger and in his prime. But that is meant as no disrespect to Lewandowski, as he is still arguably one of the best strikers on the continent, even at that age. It would have been surely interesting to see had Chelsea gone after Lewandowski and brought him to the Premier League.