It was thought that Erling Haaland’s potential move from Borussia Dortmund was going to be the transfer soap opera of next summer.
The Norwegian, along with Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, are taking the football world by storm and ready to take the mantle at the top of the European game long held by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Both are expected to join new teams for the start of the 2022/23 campaign too, with Mbappe’s switch to Real Madrid seemingly all but done, save for putting pen to paper.
Haaland has long been coveted by the best teams on the continent, with all of Bayern Munich, PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City believed to be interested.
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A reported release clause from Borussia Dortmund that could be as low as €75m according to Fabrizio Romano, writing for CBS Sports, will ensure that all eight clubs will vie for the player’s services.
Man United could well do with a striker of his quality up front, and with Ralf Rangnick known to the player, it could oil the wheels, despite Alf-Inge Haaland’s previous allegiance to rivals, Man City.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been a source of inspiration with goals in important games, but he can’t always be relied upon to do the business. Edinson Cavani could have left Old Trafford by the summer too, given that he’s not really being given the game time he needs.
The issue for the Red Devils is the player’s agent, Mino Raiola. He also looks after United’s Paul Pogba, and the issues that Raiola has had with United have previously been well documented.
Sky Deutschland transfer expert Marc Behrenbeck, quoted by FourFourTwo, had said that a transfer to Liverpool makes a lot of sense.
Jurgen Klopp has a plethora of world-class strikers already at his disposal at Liverpool, but when a player of Haaland’s quality becomes available, the Reds have to be interested. Even if it’s at the expense of one of Roberto Firmino or Sadio Mane, whose contracts will both have just a year to run at the end of the current campaign.
Until he signs on the dotted line for any one of them, perhaps all will feel that they have a chance to secure him, however, it appears that only two have a realistic chance at this point.
According to AS, the player’s father, Alf-Inge Haaland, owns a property in Spain and has a love for the country’s golf courses, and furthermore, Erling has been holidaying in the region during the Bundesliga’s winter break.
When spotted on the beach by fans and asked where he’ll be playing next season, Haaland is alleged to have responded “I will play here, in Spain.”