Erling Haaland has been linked with Barcelona in the previous few months but Joan Laporta has come to hint that the striker might be out of the club’s reach at the moment.
Barcelona have been embroiled in a financial mess this season but still, they were being linked with Haaland, a player who has been on Manchester City’s radar for the longest time.
A chance to play under Xavi in a new-look Barcelona side might have been tempting for the young Norwegian but according to the club’s president, they cannot afford to make such risky signings right now.
“Even if we had the best economic situation, there are operations we would not do,” Laporta told Eport3, as quoted.
“[Mateu] Alemany, Jordi [Cruyff] and the technical secretary are working on improving the team. We want to carry out operations, but some are difficult,
“We have to save ourselves. We have improved the situation, but we have to complete the recovery of the economic situation. We won’t do deals that could put the institution at risk.”
Barça president Joan Laporta when asked about Erling Haaland deal: “Even if we had the best financial situation in the world, we wouldn't do some deals for the sake of the club”, he told @esport3. 🔴🇳🇴 #FCB
“We won’t complete any deal that puts the club at any further risk”. pic.twitter.com/RD4cn6pAzE
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 13, 2022
Is Erling Haaland heading to Manchester City then?
City have been playing without a centre-forward this season so they will surely make a move for Erling Haaland during the summer and now that Barcelona have stepped out of the way, things are bound to get easier for the Premier League side.
Having said that, we don’t think Man City will have a free pass at signing the Norwegian because Real Madrid have also held an interest in Erling Haaland.
After being out injured for almost 2️⃣ months, @ErlingHaaland made his return back onto the pitch tonight 😁🐝 pic.twitter.com/vmo9jpZ6Uw
— 433 (@433) March 13, 2022
Madrid are likely to sign Kylian Mbappe as a free agent so they will have money to spare meaning they can go after a player like Haaland in the summer. Playing alongside forwards like Vinicius and Mbappe might be a temptation too hard to resist but we still see Manchester City as the favourites to land the striker.
Borussia Dortmund will love to hold onto him but with clubs like Man City and Real Madrid interested and an agent like Mino Raiola backing him, it’s almost impossible for the Bundesliga side to hold onto him beyond the summer.
