Real Madrid will rival Manchester United for Erling Haaland’s signature this summer if they can’t land Kylian Mbappe, Spanish outlet AS has confirmed.
Both players are high on los Merengues’ priority list but the financial climate means that signing both will be out of the question.
Mbappe is top of the list, but there is already an awareness that the deal will be extremely hard to pull off. Haaland is seen as the easy, backup option.
‘Haaland was in Madrid’s plans for 2022.
‘[However,] the sporting difficulties that Madrid are going through have made the signing of a forward a priority: he has scored only 57 goals in 34 games, an average of 1.7 per game.
‘The idea is to bring Haaland’s incorporation forward to June if Mbappé proves unfeasible.
‘The Norwegian does not dislike the idea at all: he knows that Madrid want him and will wait to hear their proposal.
‘In addition, his salary claims, of €12 million net per season (well below the €36m that PSG will offer Mbappé), fit the bill.
‘To this must be added Mino Raiola’s desire to start doing business on a sustained basis with Real Madrid and the excellent relationship between los Blancos and Dortmund.’
AS also note United’s interest in Haaland, but believe City are a greater threat.
‘United are one of the four teams leading the way to try to sign Haaland in June. The Red Devils will try to use in their favour the presence on their bench of a fellow Norwegian like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, his country’s idol during the 1990s and 2000s.
‘Madrid’s main rival in the bid for Haaland is the other team from Manchester. City have enough economic potential to tempt the Norwegian and need a replacement for Agüero, who ends his contract in June and will not continue.
‘Finally, there is Chelsea, who do not convince the player so much and who do not have a lot of space up front.’
If AS are right and Madrid are successful in signing Mbappe, it would leave United second favourites to sign Haaland this summer, a situation that would not be the case if they were to wait until 2022.