SEVILLA, SPAIN - FEBRUARY 17: Erling Haaland of Borussia Dortmund celebrates scoring his goal to the 1:3 during the Champions League Round Of 16 Leg One match between Sevilla FC and Borussia Dortmund at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on February 17, 2021 in Sevilla, Spain. PHOTO BY ALEXANDRE SIMOES/BORUSSIA DORTMUND VIA GETTY IMAGES.
Fabrizio Romano reports that Alfie Haaland, the father and agent of Dortmund star, Erling, met with the new Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, on Thursday morning.
The 20-year-old forward has scored 33 goals this season in all competitions but has also created a further 8 for his teammates. Most notably, he has 10 goals in 6 Champions League games which should terrify Manchester City fans ahead of their quarter-final clash.
This morning, his father met with Barcelona’s re-elected president Joan Laporta to discuss a potential move to La Liga and Fabrizio Romano reports: “The meeting between Mino Raiola, Erling Haaland’s father and Joan Laporta has been positive.
“It was the first contact to discuss about the new Barcelona project – obviously there’s nothing done or advanced, race will be long as many clubs are involved… Barça are in.”
He added: “Mino Raiola will meet/talk also with other top clubs in the next weeks… and Bayern Münich are not in the race for this summer. Raiola also met with BVB this week to discuss the price as Haaland’s clause will be NOT valid in 2021, only in July 2022.”
The first tweet from Romano suggests that Alfie Haaland’s meeting with Laporta was purely for Barcelona to toss their hat in the ring and make their desire to sign the young forward known.
The second tweet emphasises this and underlines the fact that it will be incredibly difficult for any side to sign him this summer due to his release clause not being valid until July 2022 and not a moment sooner.
€150 million is what Dortmund would demand this summer, according to Romano, who points towards Barcelona’s huge debt as a reason for why the Catalonians will struggle to sign Haaland before next year.
For Liverpool, this is good news. Even though Fenway Sports Group have sold 10% of the club to acquire a £534m cash injection, they aren’t going to make those funds available to Jurgen Klopp for a massive spending spree.
If the Reds want to sign Haaland or Mbappe, they will need to generate the funds from the club’s own revenue sources. At least the Reds can rest assured that while they won’t be able to sign the Norwegian or Frenchman this summer without investing hugely, neither will their rivals.
About the Author
