Barcelona president Joan Laporta is adamant he will sign Erling Haaland as one of the final acts of his presidency, while reports claim the Manchester City striker is ready to move to LaLiga and the timeline for his switch has been speculated.
Haaland is a player who requires no introduction – the Manchester City striker is widely regarded as the No 1 centre-forward playing the game right now.
The Norwegian hitman has traumatised Premier League defences since arriving at the Etihad in 2022 and according to Spanish outlet Sport, his next step could be Barcelona.
They state Barcelona president Joan Laporta will channel the club’s full focus and resources into signing Haaland as one of the last acts of his presidency. Laporta’s current term is due to end in 2026 and Barcelona hope to snare Haaland in either the summer window of 2025 or 2026.
Aiding Barcelona’s quest is the claim the club have a healthy relationship with Haaland’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta. There is reportedly ‘a lot of trust’ between both parties and this is considered a key advantage Barcelona possess.
It’s also suggested Pep Guardiola’s potential exit at the end of the current campaign and/or Man City being punished for their alleged FFP breaches would greatly enhance Barcelona’s chances of sealing the coup.
Guardiola is in the final year of his contract in Manchester and has already received informal approaches from the FA about becoming the next England manager.
What’s more, a separate report in Spain just a few days ago claimed Haaland is ‘ready to leave’ Man City having already won all their is to win at the Etihad. It was also reiterated that Haaland’s priority if indeed he does leave Man City is a transfer to LaLiga.
Release clause, Guardiola exit, FFP punishment can all aid Barcelona
The obvious questions to ask are why would Man City sell and how can Barcelona – given their well-documented financial woes – afford the move.
A prior report from The Athletic earlier in 2024 revealed there are release clauses in Haaland’s City contract that kick in in 2025.
The exact nature of the clauses remains a closely guarded secret, though the report claimed the release fee will be closer to £100m than the gargantuan £200m figure that some outlets have mentioned.
Of course, financing the move would still be difficult and it is perhaps telling that Sport offer no insight as to how much Barcelona can pay.
There is also the small matter of Haaland’s mammoth wages to consider. The frontman is understood to earn a base salary of around £375,000-a-week.
However, the Daily Mail previously reported that ‘almost guaranteed’ bonuses actually see Haaland pocket close to £900,000-a-week in real terms.
In the event Barcelona were able to pull off the astronomical coup, Haaland’s arrival would almost certainly prompt Barcelona to offload Robert Lewandowski, according to Sport.
READ MORE: The key contract details of every Man City first-team player: Expiry dates, weekly wages, agents…
Cole Palmer return / Reece James to Barcelona clarified
In other news, sensational reports in the Spanish press have claimed Guardiola has instructed Man City to re-sign Cole Palmer.
Elsewhere, Palmer’s Chelsea teammate Reece James will not be joining Barcelona or Benfica despite reports to the contrary.
Curious claims James’ camp had been shopping him to clubs that can offer warmer climates recently emerged. The logic there was the warmer weather would help James keep the injuries at bay. Per Give Me Sport, there is ‘zero substance’ to claims James is leaving Chelsea any time soon.
Finally, Man City have entrenched themselves in the race to sign Bayer Leverkusen playmaker, Florian Wirtz. The Germany ace is also a wanted man at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
How Haaland compares to the striker he’d replace
Source link
[redirect url=’https://fastpowers.com/’ sec=’3′]