Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland is one of the most sought after top talents and will not be short of options when he decides to leave the German outfit; his next decision is going to be the most important one in his footballing career.
The top crop of Europe will battle it out for one of Europe’s top talents until the war for him is over — this will only happen — once one of the clubs linked to him lands his signature.
Despite a host of clubs being linked with a Haaland move, there are only a few who could: one, pay the transfer demand of Dortmund, which is upwards £175m; and two, pay his rumoured and expected salary of 500k-per-week, which works out to £30 million annually.
Manchester City and Manchester United have to wait six weeks for Erling Haaland talks
According to Manchester Evening News, BVB have given the two Premier League clubs a six-week waiting period before they can begin any Erling Haaland talks. The club’s CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, explained they are in discussions with their wonderkid and haven’t ruled out a possible stay.
"Borussia Dortmund will discover whether they have any chance of keeping Erling Haaland in the next six weeks, giving Manchester City and Manchester United a timescale of when they could make an approach to sign the striker.Dortmund, though, haven’t ruled out the possibility of keeping Haaland at the Westfalonstadion for another season, and now CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has offered an update on their talks with Haaland’s camp."
CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke on the situation:
"I don’t know. That will certainly clear up in the next few weeks, maybe a month, maybe six weeks.”If he leaves, we’ll handle it the way we’ve always done it,” he said. “We’ll find someone new again. (manchestereveningnews.co.uk)"
The two Manchester clubs are hoping to see a deal materialise as soon as the summer window opens. Man City are still searching for a Sergio Aguero replacement after missing out on Tottenham’s striker Harry Kane, with both Inter Milan’s Martinez and BVB’s Haaland their summer priorities — any of the two will do for Pep Guardiola.
United, as their noisy neighbours, are after an out-and-out striker with Cristiano Ronaldo’s future up in the air and Edinson Cavani inevitably on his way out during the next window when his contract expires.
Also, Mason Greenwood’s recent off-field blunder enforces a striker transfer for the Red Devils — but they like City have two options — the other top choice is said to be Kane.
Real Madrid hoping to convince Erling Haaland to hold out
Other reports believe Real Madrid are looking to bring in PSG’s Kylian Mbappe and the Norwegian. However, they want to do it in different transfer windows.
They say it’s about not having the one transfer overshadowing the other while many believe it’s a funds problem and they want to save the necessary cash to be able to bid and buy with the deepest pockets in the game.
Although we must keep in mind, Mbappe is on the verge of leaving the Parisians on a free transfer, a double world-class signing for Los Blancos must not be ruled out.
If this is the case, this decision could have a double-edged sword effect on Real Madrid. It could tell us that the Bernabeu is the only place he sees as his next destination.
Or, it could see all their rivals for Haaland’s signature bolster their respective bids and add more funds to a potential world-record deal.