Barcelona ready to take €500 million loan to sign Erling Haaland

Barcelona president Joan Laporta is believed to have made it his primary mission to sign Erling Haaland next summer.

The 21-year-old is one of the hottest commodities in the transfer market and is widely expected to leave Borussia Dortmund at the conclusion of the ongoing campaign.

All elite clubs in Europe are lining up to sign him, including Barcelona and their arch-rivals Real Madrid. The Merengues are also likely to sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain, on a free transfer, having laid the groundwork for the deal over the past eighteen months.

And, El Nacional is reporting that Laporta is intent on countering that with the signing of Haaland and ensuring that both the next-gen superstar do not end up at the Santiago Bernabeu.

However, pulling off the deal to sign Haaland will be easier said than done given the finances that will be involved and Barça’s economic situation.

Indeed, as per the report, signing the 21-year-old Norwegian international will take a massive sum of around €450 million. Broken down, that sum splits into €100 million in transfer fee and a five-year contract worth €70 million per season. On top of that, teams will also have to shell out a hefty commission of €40 million to Haaland’s agent, Mino Raiola.

Given the massive investment needed, it is now being claimed by El Triangle (h/t El Nacional) that Barcelona are ready to take out a loan of €500 million to complete the signing of Haaland from Dortmund later this year.

Laporta sees this transfer as similar to Barcelona’s signing of Ronaldinho way back in 2003. Not only would it end the club’s goalscoring woes on the pitch, but also provide a major boost in terms of marketing opportunities.

Enric Masip, the financial advisor of Laporta, has claimed that the signing of Haaland would be difficult but not impossible. Whether Barça are able to pull off this audacious swoop later this year will certainly be interesting to see.