Chelsea interim boss Frank Lampard has said he was "pushing big" to sign Erling Haaland during his first spell as manager at Stamford Bridge and questioned how much other senior figures at the club wanted to pursue a deal.
Haaland has enjoyed a stunning first season in England since joining Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in a €60 million transfer last summer, scoring 52 goals in all competitions including 36 in 33 Premier League games.
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City stand on the brink of a Treble-winning season as a result and could clinch their fifth league title in six seasons this weekend with victory over Chelsea at Etihad Stadium.
Lampard continues to take charge of Chelsea on a caretaker basis following Graham Potter's dismissal last month, returning to the scene of his sacking by the club in January 2021 after 18 months in charge.
A year earlier, in the January transfer window of 2020, Haaland moved from FC Salzburg to Dortmund after the German club triggered a €20m release clause.
Lampard revealed that he wanted to bring the Norway striker to the Premier League before he went on to impress for the Bundesliga club.
"I don't know whether he would have decided to come here anyway but I was a big fan of that [signing Haaland]," Lampard told a news conference on Friday. "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. 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."
Chelsea were subsequently hit by a FIFA transfer ban in the summer of 2020, lasting two transfer windows. Lampard said he was convinced Haaland would be an instant success in English football.
"I think he's special, I thought he'd adapt straight away and show his level," Lampard added. "I didn't consider it that closely but 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."