Barcelona’s great ambition for the summer of 2022 is to beat Real Madrid to the signing of Erling Haaland according to Marca.
Joan Laporta believes that Barcelona have the financial capability to pull off the deal after they reduce their wage bill accordingly. Privately he’s been vocal in his confidence of signing Haaland.
As well as financial strength, however, Haaland must be convinced of the validity of Barcelona’s sporting project before choosing Camp Nou as his destination when he leaves Borussia Dortmund.
Laporta has strong ties with Haaland’s agent, Mino Raiola, and has held several meetings with him to discuss Barcelona’s plan for the future – Haaland’s father was even present for one meeting.
Barcelona’s great selling point is that Haaland will be the team’s reference, the key man upon which Barcelona’s future will be built. As well as that, there’s evident potential already at the club.
This wouldn’t be the case at Madrid, for example, given the presence of Karim Benzema, Vinicius and likely Kylian Mbappe.
There’s also real commercial appeal to joining Barcelona given the size of the club and it’s commercial significance all over the world. Wearing Blaugrana will help the Norwegian raise his profile.
Making the deal happen is still going to be challenging, however. As well as Madrid, Barcelona need to fight off interest from Manchester City, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain.
