Real Madrid: Erling Haaland may already be too expensive

Real Madrid are among the big clubs in Europe with interest in RB Salzburg sensation Erling Braut Haaland, but the price tag may be too onerous for Los Blancos.

Erling Braut Haaland is the biggest breakout star of the 2019-2020 Champions League campaign thus far, and he’s catapulted himself onto the watchlists of every major club in Europe. The Norwegian teenager has scored seven goals in just four Champions League appearances, including a brace against Napoli.

Real Madrid are among the teams linked to Haaland, as well as rivals FC Barcelona and rebuilding Premier League side Manchester United. Since United are in the worst shape of the three, they naturally look like early favorites to shell out of the most money for Haaland.

And even though he’s only 19 and plays in the Austrian Bundesliga, Haaland will cost a whole lot of money. According to a report from Carlos Forjanes of AS, RB Salzburg are currently asking for a cool 100 million euros for Haaland.

That could make him more expensive than Bayer Leverkusen 20-year-old Kai Havertz, who was among the Bundesliga’s leading goal scorers as an attacking midfielder when he was the same age as Haaland last season.

Of course, Salzburg can ask for whatever price they want; it doesn’t mean anyone will take that deal. But since United seem so dead set on adding another attacker, it is entirely possible someone acquiesces to a shockingly high price tag.

After all, Haaland has 26 goals in 17 games in all competitions this season, including an astounding record in the Champions League. And this summer in the U-20 World Cup, Haaland scored nine goals in only three games, essentially averaging a hat trick per game.

Haaland should continue to pique Florentino Perez’s interest, even though he already has an army of young attacking talent and bought one of the Bundesliga’s leading scorers in 2018-2019 for half of Salzburg’s reporting Haaland asking price. Luka Jovic can be Real Madrid’s future superstar No. 9 as he develops behind Karim Benzema.

Perez and Real are interested in signing the best young players in the world, but only for around 50 million euros max. The logic is that they’ll eventually be worth 100 million euros or more, and that already seems to be the trajectory for summer signing Rodrygo.

But if Haaland is already valued at around 100 million euros as a breakout sensation, then he’s already out of Real’s range. They have bigger targets on their mind next summer, as they will want to save up every penny for Kylian Mbappe, who may already be the best player in the world at the age of 20.