BARCELONA – Barcelona will insist on the signing of Erling Haaland after the meeting that Joan Laporta held last week with his father and the player’s agent, but several sources have admitted to ESPN that today “they see it very difficult” that an agreement can be reached for the Borussia Dortmund striker.
The president of Barcelona is excited to be able to get the promising Norwegian striker to end up signing with the Catalan club. However, the high competition for his signing and the delicate economic situation that the Catalan entity is going through due to the COVID-19 pandemic can frustrate everything.
Laporta met for more than two hours with Mino Raiola and the footballer’s father, Alf-Inge, in order to lay the groundwork for future talks. However, that same day they also had a meeting with representatives of Real Madrid and several Premier League teams are on the lookout.
At the economic level we must remember that Barcelona’s debt amounts to almost 1.2 billion euros and the club is forced to reduce the payroll with the departure of players next summer. Laporta, the day he was sworn in as president, assured that he would have to make brave decisions in the near future, so a busy summer is expected.
In the Camp Nou offices they consider that the next transfer window will be similar to the last one, in which Barcelona let out important 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, director of the football area, Ronald Koeman, coach of the team, and Ramon Planes, technical secretary, knowing that in the summer of 2022 Haaland has a exit clause of 75 million euros.
Borussia will ask for 180 million euros for Haaland’s release this summer, while Raiola described as “false” the information that they had requested a 30 million token for the player at the same time as a bonus of transfer of 40 million, half for the player’s father and the other for the attacker’s agent.
Haaland also has Premier League contenders. Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United would be in the race alongside Manchester City, although Pep Guardiola warned last week that “with these prices we will not buy a striker. It is impossible, we cannot afford it.”
Returning to Barcelona, Koeman continues to insist on signing Memphis Depay from Olympique Lyonnais, who is free this summer and would arrive for free after the Barça club tried to sign him last October without success.
Eric Garcia’s name is also on the table. Negotiations are progressing well, but it is not completely closed, although at Barça they are “optimistic”.