Roman Abramovich 'releases funds' for Chelsea Erling Haaland bid

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has set aside the £150m needed to bid for Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland this summer.

As 90min exclusively revealed last week, Chelsea are ready to shell out up to £150m on Haaland as Abramovich sees him as a generational talent who can take the team to a new level for the next decade.

As noted by Bild, Abramovich has taken one step further in his pursuit of the 20-year-old and has 'released the funds' for a £150m bid and there is a confidence that Dortmund will be convinced to sell at that price.

That's also backed up by Jan Aage Fjortoft, who claims Chelsea are on the cusp of submitting a 'big offer', although there is no mention of just how much that could be.

While £150m may be an enormous sum of money, Chelsea expect to be able to pay the fee in instalments across a period of four or five years, just as Manchester United are doing with Jadon Sancho, who will move to Old Trafford in a £73m deal which is payable over the next four seasons.

However, Abramovich has made it clear that he would still prefer to sell some first-team players to bring in some extra finances. Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech are all named as potential casualties.

From Dortmund's perspective, the stance has always been that Haaland is not for sale. Christian Falk confirmed late on Monday that the German side are still pushing back bids, although they're hardly going to come out and say he is available, are they?

Dortmund are even having a bit of fun with the rumour mill these days. Haaland had been expected to report for pre-season training on Monday but was instead allowed to come back on Tuesday, and when asked to explain why, sporting director Michael Zorc's eyes lit up.

"He's already in England," Zorc joked to Sky Deutschland.

Haaland is not believed to be pushing to leave Dortmund, but he has made it clear to Chelsea that he could see himself wearing blue at some point down the line.