Chelsea fans have been reacting to today's Erling Haaland bombshell.
The Borussia Dortmund superstar has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge, reportedly top of Chelsea's shopping list ahead of the summer.
But the Blues were dealt a big setback today when Bild reported Haaland does not want to take an "intermediate step" if he was to leave Dortmund, instead wanting to join "an absolute top club".
The report suggests that will rule out Chelsea, despite their status as one of Europe's bigger clubs, perhaps leaving the likes of Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the race.
With Haaland's £68million release clause not coming into play until 2022, it's likely the striker will cost more than £100m this summer, and that means only a handful of clubs could afford him.
Chelsea are one of those clubs, it seems, but if Haaland doesn't deem them a big enough club, it's likely only Manchester United, Real Madrid and Bayern would stand a real chance.
That could come as a real blow for Chelsea given they were said to have earmarked the Norway international as their number one target ahead of the summer.
But Blues fans have been surprisingly understanding of the reported Haaland claim, despite potentially missing out on one of football's biggest up and coming stars.
Here's how some fans reacted on Reddit.
Alx69 - "Ouch, understandable though."
_Atswi_ - "I don't blame him given how all our Big money signings lose all football ability once they step onto the pitch with us."
Balosmelli - "Spot on but people will delude themselves otherwise. The best should play for the best and right now, we’re not there. If I’m being truthful, for him and his brand, it’s silly if he comes here."
Gonzaf - "Yup it’s a harsh reality but we are not in that upper echelon of teams at the moment."
Helloperator9 - "That's why we're going for him this summer - hoping that if we don't have top tier competition he'll be impatient enough to leave Dortmund. That's how we got Havertz and Werner too, but Halaand is clearly a tier above."
CFCRU - "Never rated him anyways."
Soccerislife10z - "Ouch. You'll regret it Haaland. Mount James CHO Kai Puli will make you regret it in a year or two."
