Tuchel once tried to sign Haaland for Chelsea — now he must stop him in a World Cup quarter-final
England's manager pushed to bring Haaland to Chelsea in 2021. On Saturday, in the World Cup quarter-finals, the dynamic is very different — and the loser goes home.
There is a neat irony buried in this story. Thomas Tuchel spent months trying to convince Chelsea to sign Erling Haaland. He failed. And now, years later, he must devise a plan to stop the Norwegian from tearing England apart in a World Cup quarter-final.
The match is on Saturday, kicking off at 6 p.m. (Brasília time). The stakes could not be higher: the loser goes home.
According to ge, while still in charge at Chelsea — the club with whom he won the Champions League — Tuchel put Haaland's name to the board during the 2021/22 transfer window. The manager himself confirmed the interest in an interview with German newspaper Bild: "We spoke about Erling Haaland a few times, including during the transfer window," Tuchel said. He went further: "He is a fantastic player and clearly the central figure at Dortmund."
Haaland, however, chose a different path. According to Sky Sports, Manchester City paid around £85 million to prise him away from Borussia Dortmund — an investment that paid off with a string of titles, including the 2022/23 treble and the club's first-ever Champions League.
Tuchel, meanwhile, moved on to Bayern Munich, won the Bundesliga, and has been in charge of the England national team since 2024. Golmetria's model gives England a 10.9% chance of lifting the trophy — Brazil, eliminated by Norway, have already dropped to zero.
Now the German has one afternoon to solve what he could not solve in 2021: how to stop Haaland. Only this time it is not in a transfer window. It is at a World Cup.