Not a day appears to go past without another rumour flying around about Borussia Dortmund’s incredible striking sensation, Erling Haaland.
The youngster is wanted by all of European football’s elite teams, and how Barcelona must now be regretting not buying him for €20m when given the chance, but signing Martin Braithwaite for €15m instead.
Now, a release clause of around €75m will need to be met before taking into account an expected payment in the region of €40-€50m for his agent, Mino Raiola, and wages of close to €1m per week, if reports are to be believed.
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Only a few clubs on the continent are able to afford anything like that sort of money, so the field is narrowed before the pitches to sign him begin.
However, we may already be at a point where the pitching and the rumours will stop.
According to Sport, cited by The Sun, Real Madrid have locked the player down after talks in Monaco on Friday which will ‘block other negotiations.’
That would suggest that the Spanish giants clearly have the upper hand at this point, which would render any interest from Chelsea and Haaland’s father’s former club, Man City, moribund.
If there are indeed a few clubs that are willing to accede to the financial demands of the deal, then it simply comes down to personal preference.
Quite obviously, Haaland prefers La Liga’s warmer climbs to the Premier League, and Florentino Pérez may yet get his wish of an Mbappe-Haaland from two.