Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has chosen FC Barcelona as his next destination according to El Nacional, which cited anonymous sources.
The Norwegian has been linked to Real Madrid since the turn of 2024, when AS reported that he was Los Blancos’ ‘Plan B’ in case they couldn’t pull off Kylian Mbappe’s free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain.
The same outlet explained that the 23-year-old’s release clause reduces to a fee which should be below $100 million for clubs outside the Premier League in 2025, which puts the two giants of El Clasico on alert.
Last month, Mundo Deportivo explained that Haaland is Barca president Joan Laporta’s ‘dream’ signing, after the marksman gave Xavi Hernandez his word to join in 2022.
Though his release clause at Borussia Dortmund then was around $60 million, the Catalans couldn’t afford the whole package that came with landing Haaland when also factoring in his salary and payments to now-deceased agent Mino Raiola plus the player’s father Alfe-Inge.
This resulted in moneyed, state-backed City swooping for Haaland, who then went on to smash a number of goalscoring records and fire the Mancunians to a treble including their first Champions League crown during his maiden campaign.
Haaland’s sophomore season in England is proving to be his difficult second album, though many would kill to boast his 30 goals across 37 appearances in all competitions while City is still in the running for three trophies at home and on the continent.
Over in Spain, there continues to be buzz about Haaland heading south to La Liga and one of its behemoths in Barca or Madrid, with El Nacional reporting that the youngster has already made a decision in this respect.
According to the Catalan paper, Haaland has chosen his next club to be the Blaugrana, who by 2025 will need a successor to the aging Robert Lewandowski.
With Mbappe probably at Madrid and Haaland lighting up the renovated Camp Nou, we could again be treated to a battle of two greats at two huge clubs for many a year – as seen with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi from the late 2000s to the late-2010s.
Barca now has to raise the cash to make the Haaland operation work if he truly wants to continue his career there.
And like Mbappe will do to leave PSG and join Real Madrid, his generational rival needs to put legacy over personal riches and be prepared to earn less at Barca.