New Barcelona president Joan Laporta has made signing Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland his ‘absolute priority’ this summer.
That’s according to MARCA, who say Laporta has ‘returned full and energetic’ after winning the recent presidential elections.
He was cautious about promising big signings during the campaign given the financial situation at the club, but the Catalan lawyer, the board and his ‘technical area’ are all clear that they need to push for Haaland.
Laporta ‘firmly believes’ that signing the Norwegian star is possible, despite the ‘weak state’ of the club’s finances.
All the big teams are interested in Haaland after another sensational season in Germany, where he has firmly established him as ‘the great sensation’ with an ‘overwhelming’ future.
Barcelona want to beat the competition to his signature, though, and will ‘put all their efforts’ into doing so, especially when it comes to the economics of a deal.
The calculations they have done indicate that the whole operation could cost around €100m and to finance that Barça are planning big sales, with the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Samuel Umtiti, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé all on the sale list.
In fact, almost the whole squad is up for sale and the new board will do ‘whatever is necessary’ to sign a player they consider as ‘outstanding’.
The club are also planning additions elsewhere but are looking at free transfers and low-cost moves in the knowledge that Haaland’s name will ‘overshadow’ everything.
