Chelsea caretaker manager Frank Lampard has revealed he urged the club to sign Erling Haaland even before he became one of the best strikers in the world.Lampard, who was permanent head coach of Chelsea between 2019 and 2021, wanted Haaland earlier in his career when the Norwegian was still trying to make his name.Would black coaches ever got the chance like Lampard and Gerrard?The former midfielder suggests the Chelsea board at the time took more convincing, which played a part in him not ending up at Stamford Bridge.##NAJAVA_MECA_7268627##He said on Friday, ahead of the upcoming clash against Cityzens:”What stage did it get to? From our point, I was certainly pushing it. I’m not sure what the appetite was everywhere else in the club to do it.”The competition was big to take him because he was an outstanding player and I think there was a buyout clause at the time which was relatively reasonable, maybe, considering the player. So all those things. I don’t have enough detail to say how close it was, it’s by the by really.”I don’t know whether he would have decided to come here anyway but I was a big fan of that. There are some of those that happen, aren’t there, that people know about or it could have been this way.”People talk a lot about mistakes or things that could have been in football. Whether he would have come here, I don’t know but I was pushing big and on a few other players at the time. But he was the outstanding one. Was it close? He’ll only know the answer to that.”##EDITORS_CHOICE##Lampard is not surprised Haaland has made an instant impact in the Premier League having joined from Borussia Dortmund.He added:”I think he’s special, I thought he’d adapt straight away and show his level.Unreal Haaland is at number 47 after scoring a brace against Leicester”With the level of player and his record of scoring, firstly in Austria, secondly for his country and in the Bundesliga, which is not an easy league. To come into a really good unit already is a recipe to really help him, and then the rest is just credit to himself and the team around him. It is not an easy hindsight answer, I’ve got real respect for the player.”
