BARCELONA – Barcelona will push for Erling Haaland to sign after Joan Laporta’s meeting last week with the player’s father and the players’ agent, but several sources have admitted to ESPN that today they are “very hard to see” that a deal could be to be. concluded for the Borussia Dortmund striker.
The president of Barcelona is delighted to be able to get the promising Norwegian striker to sign with the Catalan club. However, the fierce competition for his signing and the delicate economic situation the Catalan entity is going through as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic can frustrate everything.
Laporta met Mino Raiola and the footballer’s father, Alf-Inge, for over two hours to lay the groundwork for future talks. However, that same day they also met with representatives of Real Madrid and its various Premier League teams on the hunt.
Economically, it should not be forgotten that Barcelona’s debt is close to 1,200 million euros and that the club will have to lower the salary mass with the departure of players next summer. Laporta, on the day he was inaugurated as president, assured that he would have to make bold decisions in the near future, which is why a busy summer is expected.
In the Camp Nou offices, they think the next transfer window will be similar to the previous one, with Barcelona showing key players with very high salaries such as Luis Suárez, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal.
Despite everything, Laporta continues to work side by side with Mateu Alemany, football field director, Ronald Koeman, team coach, and Ramon Planes, technical secretary, knowing that Haaland has a € 75 million exit clause in the summer of 2022. .
Borussia will request $ 180 million for Haaland’s freedom this summer, while Raiola described the information as ‘false’ claiming that they requested a $ 30 million token for the player, as well as a 40 million transfer bonus, half for the player. father and the other half for the agent of the attacker.
Haaland also has suitors in the Premier League. Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United were set to compete with Manchester City, although Pep Guardiola warned last week that “we are not going to buy forwards at these prices. It’s impossible, we can’t afford it.”
Koeman returns to Barcelona and continues to push to take over Memphis Depay from Olympique Lyonnais, who is off this summer and was set to arrive for free after the Barça club tried unsuccessfully to sign him last October.
Eric Garcia’s name is also on the table. Negotiations are progressing well, but have not been fully concluded, although they are “optimistic” at Barça.