Chelsea tried for Haaland after Inter refused their initial interest in Lukaku, this decision came very late in the window by Suning and co. to sell him. They then went after Haaland and failed, so they went back on convincing Lukaku and got their man. I'm not sure where this idea of Chelsea just waking up from a nap thinking Haaland or nowt to Lukaku in a week.
We were never in the race because sometimes it's clear who the player wants and who the club wants. Re; Jack Grealish. Same with Kane, if Chelsea truly believed they had no opportunity with Lukaku, they would have gone for Kane as well, and arguably offered a better deal than us in terms of players exchange on offer plus the €150m odd similar to us.