Real Madrid: Can Reinier help the team acquire Erling Haaland?

Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund enjoy a positive relationship, and that could help Los Blancos land one of football’s brightest stars.

The summer 2020 transfer window will be about sales and building up funds for the future. Real Madrid cannot afford to make major signings this year if they want to afford the absolute best players on the transfer market in 2021 and 2022. Florentino Perez and Zinedine Zidane know they need to keep their eyes on their long-term goals and not get too caught up in the moment.

Kylian Mbappe is the undisputed top target for 2021, but Real Madrid cannot assume he will leave PSG. Therefore, they need to keep thinking of other great young attacking players, such as Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland of Borussia Dortmund.

Haaland is definitely another one of Real’s top targets. The 20-year-old joined Dortmund from RB Salzburg in the winter transfer window, wisely choosing the Black and Yellows over Manchester United. Haaland has flourished in the German Bundesliga, scoring 13 goals with two assists in just over 1,000 minutes.

Real Madrid have their eyes on the striker for the 2022 summer transfer window, but it will be competitive. United will likely still want him, and the usual suspects like Juventus, Barcelona, and PSG will likely push for him, too. Whenever Los Blancos want a great young player, they are usually favored, especially when Zidane is the manager.

But now, they have an extra ace up their sleeve when it comes to negotiating with the team. Dortmund and Real Madrid enjoy a great working relationship, boosted by the recent two-year loan of Achraf Hakimi to the Bundesliga side. Hakimi blossomed into one of the world’s best attacking fullbacks at Dortmund, becoming a key player for Lucien Favre’s side.

Real Madrid obtain multiple benefits from Reinier loan

In 2020, Real have loaned another great young player to Dortmund in Reinier Jesus, who should make an even more profound impact on BVB. Reinier impressed at Castilla, showing incredible vision and goal-scoring instincts. He could help Dortmund continue to remain competitive to the dominant Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, working well with Haaland, Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard, and the other attackers. (Sancho’s future remains unclear.)

For Real Madrid, there are multiple “wins” with loaning Reinier for two years. Reinier gets two years of regular playing time with a team that is willing to let young players grow. For example, they were patient with Hakimi even though his defensive mistakes literally cost them games in his first season. But by the second season, the promising flashes became more than just flashes; he was one of the Bundesliga’s elite players.

Reinier will have fewer growing pains and even more upside for Dortmund, and he would return to Real Madrid as a potential world-class player, if all goes well.

But there’s another benefit, and that’s the leg-up on Haaland. Since Real Madrid have provided Dortmund with two of the world’s top prospects, BVB know they can keep getting more affordable, young talent who play in line with their marketable brand of football.

They can’t keep their best young players for long, such as Haaland, and even if Juve or PSG offer more money, the value of having a good relationship with Real means a lot more. With La Fabrica and Real’s ability to scout and sign the best players worldwide, such as Reinier, Real offer a lot more to a club like Dortmund in the form of future loanees than anyone else.

So Reinier’s loan should, in theory, help Los Blancos sign one of the world’s best strikers and top young players in a couple of years, even if it is, at the end of the day, a secondary or tertiary benefit of this exciting loan move.