Real Madrid Transfers: This is why Barcelona are pretending to pursue Erling Haaland

Real Madrid may not be able to sign both Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland in the summer 2022 transfer window, but Florentino Perez appears intent on doing his damndest to pull off a Galactic summer for the ages. With the new Santiago Bernabeu set to become a reality and the team flying high in LaLiga with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, Perez sees a prime opportunity to set his team up for the next decade, signing two players who normally would be restricted to transferring to bankrolled clubs.

Manchester City will be Real’s biggest competitor for Haaland. Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Barcelona have all been linked, but the Citizens are the only team with the combination of financial power and sporting success that should worry Los Blancos.

Out of those possible competitors for Haaland, Barcelona sticks out as the most unlikely. How can a team in such gross debt and in the Europa League zone even contemplate having a chance at Haaland? They may be able to convince Haaland on the grounds of their prestige, as the Borussia Dortmund star may also relish the opportunity to be the savior of such a historic club. But even then, how can Barça afford him? They already seemingly gave up on that chance by signing Ferran Torres for more than 50 million euros – and that deal itself can only happen f La Blaugrana give up players!

We may finally have an answer on why Barcelona is so hell-bent on showing off to its supporters that they are players in the Erling Haaland race, when basic logic dictates they do not have a chance, nor would it be financially prudent for them to commit more than 400 million euros to one player with the debts they have.

Barcelona’s president is afraid of Erling Haaland joining Real Madrid

According to MARCA’s Jose Felix Diaz, Barcelona president Joan Laporta is afraid of Real Madrid having the trio of the best young attackers in the world in one team. And that trio, for those unaware, would be Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and current Madrid sensation Vinicius Junior.

Laporta should be very afraid. And that explains why he is so intent on pursuing Haaland, regardless of how realistic or prudent such a move would be. He wants to do everything he can to disrupt Real’s chances of signing Haaland and dominating LaLiga for the next decade with this trio. And he is using his relationship with Mino Raiola to accomplish media disruption, boosting his own stock to fans by trying to convince the uninitiated that there is a semblance of a chance of La Blaugrana snagging the Norwegian No. 9.

The problem with Laporta is that he is trying to sell more false hopes to Barcelona fans, as Bartomeu did. He cannot ignore the financial state of the club, which caused him to lose Lionel Messi, the greatest player in his club’s history and the one man holding them together for the last two seasons. And I will just come right out and say it: it’s not as if he tried especially hard to keep Messi.

So if Laporta does not trust the process and focus on what will be a tough, youth-led rebuild with Xavi at the helm, he could make things worse. Signing Torres is already a financial risk, but it is a worthy investment for a talented player who believes in the project and comes from LaLiga. Haaland is even better, yes, but he is so expensive that it just cannot be done.

Real Madrid may not even sign Haaland themselves. But in his zeal to disrupt and boost his own stock as a fighter in front of Barça fans, Laporta’s pretend pursuit of Haaland is a wasted venture. While Laporta may be afraid of Real bringing in Haaland and Mbappe, Madridistas should not fear Barcelona as competitors for Haaland. Again, they have their historic status on their side, but, beyond that, there is little reason to believe Haaland would choose Barça over City. Or even Liverpool or United, for that matter.