Mundo Deportivo goes on the front page on Wednesday morning with Barcelona’s ‘Plan Haaland’. The Spanish sports newspaper explains the strategy of the Catalans to take over Erling Braut Haaland from Borussia Dortmund in the short term. Barcelona would prefer to bring him to Spain next summer, although the twenty-year-old striker will have to be convinced.
Raiola and father Alf-Inge Haaland spoke with Joan Laporta, the new president of Barcelona, at the beginning of this month. The Norwegian striker’s entourage flew on to Real Madrid on the same day. Despite that there have also been discussions with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United Mundo Deportivo Real Madrid as the main competitor for Barcelona. However, the Catalans would see a way to outperform Real Madrid in the battle for Haaland.
It is no secret that Real Madrid and president Florentino Pérez are eager to strengthen themselves with Kylian Mbappé. In the Spanish capital, Haaland therefore seems to have to share the spotlights with the 22-year-old attacker of Paris Saint-Germain, while Karim Benzema is also under contract with Real Madrid until mid-2022. It is not considered plausible that trainer Zinedine Zidane will refer his fellow countryman to the reserve bench in the short term. At Barcelona, Haaland can still play together with Messi in the coming period, and then take over his role as absolute star player.
However, Haaland must recognize this picture, because the financial situation of Barcelona will initially have to ‘make sacrifices’ in order to profit from the move to Catalonia in the short, medium and long term. Mundo Deportivo does not reveal how Barcelona will cough up the gigantic costs for Haaland despite its current financial situation. Borussia Dortmund uses an ‘unofficial transfer fee’ of 150 million euros. This amount is mentioned unofficially, because the German club Haaland actually does not want to sell.
If Borussia Dortmund misses out on a Champions League ticket, this asking price could still plummet. Haaland senior and Raiola may also increase the pressure, which has been slowly but surely increasing since they started their tour of all interested European superpowers. In addition to the transfer fee, however, a substantial commission will also have to be paid to Raiola and the player. RAC1 recently reported that Raiola would demand a commission of twenty million euros for himself and twenty million euros for Haaland senior, a message that was dismissed by the agent as fake news. Mundo Deportivo nevertheless recalls that in the negotiations with Barcelona about Mattijs de Ligt in the summer of 2019, Raiola demanded a commission of 15 million euros and aimed for the same amount as a signing bonus for the defender.
Despite the financial obstacles, Barcelona is committed to bringing in Haaland next summer. Last summer’s follow-up to Atlético Madrid left Luis Suárez by a top striker is at the top of Laporta’s wish list. Should Barcelona fail to bring in Haaland next summer, there is not yet a man overboard. His contract with Borussia Dortmund, which runs until mid-2024, contains a clause allowing him to pick up an amount of 75 million euros in the summer of 2022.