4 reasons as to why Erling Haaland could end up at Barcelona

Despite Barcelona being in a financial mess, the speculations linking them to a move for Erling Haaland refuse to go away.

The 21-year-old is one of the most in-demand strikers heading into the new year, with his agent, Mino Raiola, admitting that an exit from Borussia Dortmund was a likely prospect in the summer.

Raiola also went on to name four clubs that stood a chance of landing the Norwegian, including Barcelona on the list, alongside Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. “Bayern, Real, Barcelona and City . These are the great clubs you can go to. When we moved to Dortmund, we knew this step would come,” Raiola had said.

Now, SPORT has come out with a report, which lists the reasons why Barcelona may have an upper hand in the race to sign Haaland, despite the club’s financially-crippled state.

First off, the report states that Raiola and Barca president Joan Laporta enjoy a good working relationship and have already held talks over a possible move for Haaland. Indeed, the super-agent and the striker’s father, Alf-Inge, had a meeting with the Blaugrana earlier this year, soon after Laporta was re-elected as president.

While Raiola went on to meet different clubs after that, it was claimed that the feelings after the conversation with Barca were hugely positive.

Secondly, the report adds that while Real Madrid may be capable of putting together a financial package to sign Haaland, their primary focus at the moment is to sign Kylian Mbappe. The Frenchman is in the final year of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain and has been on the club’s radars for years.

Mbappe is the priority for Los Blancos and they might struggle to accommodate both him and Haaland even though the former will be available on a free transfer.

Manchester City would be a top choice for any footballer, given the chances of winning trophies and working with a manager like Pep Guardiola. However, the fact that he and Raiola have a fractured relationship could work against the Premier League champions in their pursuit of Haaland next year.

Finally, as for Bayern Munich’s chances of signing Haaland, the German giants are not exactly known for shelling out the big bucks on player wages and agent commissions. The 21-year-old has a release clause reported to be worth between €75 million and €90 million while the agent fees, wages and other costs involved would take the deal to worth around €250 million, as per the report.

While it would be very unlike Bayern to put together such a massive financial package, quite how Barcelona would manage that remains a quandary as well. Nonetheless, the report believes that all these factors give the Catalans an advantage in the race to sign Haaland.

In addition to that, journalist Sique Rodriguez has claimed that Laporta remains confident of making a marquee addition to the squad next year and believes that the club can sign Haaland. Only time will tell if it is misplaced confidence or whether the Blaugrana can really pull a rabbit out of the hat and land the Norwegian.