Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, had made strong statements near the end of last year and at the beginning of this year, saying that he will do everything in his power to strengthen the squad. The team right now requires a striker, a cold-blooded finisher who will always present himself as the target man and put the balls in the back of the net. Barca is lacking that clinical mastermind at the moment and thus, they are pushing for a new striker in the Summer. At the moment they have two players on their shortlist, Alvaro Morata and Erling Haaland.
While Morata is the more achievable of the two, there is no doubt that Haaland is the more vicious and talented. Haaland can be described as a goal-scoring machine, who has the ability to run the length of the field throughout the match and do whatever it takes to score a goal. His finishing is top-notch and he has already scored 19 goals in all competitions so far. He is the hottest player on the market and according to Italian transfer specialist, Gianluca di Marzio, La Liga is his next destination. It is clear that he will move on from Dortmund, however, his next club is still in question. No one knows where he might end up next season however, in a recent interview with Wettfreunde.net, Marzio said,
"“Only Real Madrid and Barcelona can get him because he can’t go to Atletico Madrid or other clubs. Probably because he – like Mbappe, who wants to play for Real Madrid – told his agent to try Real Madrid. And if not with them, then with Barcelona and if not with Barcelona, then with Chelsea, Man Utd, etc.”"
Thus, it has been revealed that the PL clubs are not really his cup of tea and he would rather enjoy the great football in Spain. Now the problem lies in the funds to bring him over. While Barca has the cash for his transfer fee, courtesy of a 500 million euros loan from Goldman Sachs, complying with La Liga’s salary cap will be impossible if they do not sell some players. Real Madrid on the other hand is going all-in for Kylian Mbappe and bringing in Haaland in the same window would definitely breach FFP rules. Thus, Barca has a very good chance of signing him provided that they can sell some players as well.
Should Barcelona push hard for Erling Haaland?