Haaland agent Raiola expects Real Madrid to find funds for big striker bid: ´You only get one chance

Real Madrid would find the money to buy Erling Haaland at the end of the season if he can be prised away from Borussia Dortmund, according to the player’s agent.

Mino Raiola, who represents the Norwegian striker, believes the opportunity to land a rare talent such as Haaland would be too good for Madrid, or Barcelona, to refuse.

Both Spanish giants signed up to the European Super League, a competition that could have helped ease their financial worries.

The apparent collapse of that league led Real Madrid president Florentino Perez to state his club – or any other for that matter – would be unable to afford any spectacular summer signings.

Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe has also been linked with a move to Madrid.

Raiola thinks Los Blancos would not back away if Haaland became available.

“I don’t know if they can afford him, because I haven’t studied their books. But I think they can. I think they all can,” Raiola told Spanish newspaper AS. “The question is different: Can Madrid afford not to buy Haaland? And Barca?”

He added: “This change Madrid will carry out needs to last 10 years, and that’s why Haaland is important, because he’s really young, but you would be buying a youngster with elite experience.

“The same with Mbappe. But you only get one chance to buy them. Right now you have the chance to buy them for the next 10 years. The same happened with Cristiano [Ronaldo] and [Lionel] Messi. Then, once they are in a big team, they don’t let them go.”

Dortmund have said they do not want to sell their star striker, who turns 21 in July, during the European summer transfer window, and Raiola said of that stance: “Now let’s see if that desire is still there through to the 1st of September.”

He added: “Today, the official stance of Dortmund is this. But I’ve got another view, I think that if a good opportunity comes up and everyone would be happy, we’ll put it on the table.”

Raiola spoke of working towards being able to “create a menu” of options for Haaland, but stressed that was not yet a possibility, and said there would be a risk element whether the player stayed or left Dortmund.

Dortmund have been well off the pace in the Bundesliga this season, currently sitting in fifth place and 16 points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich.

 

 

 

 

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Raiola made it clear that Haaland wants to be a serial trophy winner as well as a prolific scorer. The latter aspect was described by Raiola as the striker’s “obsession”.

“No doubt he’ll pick somewhere where he feels those two things go together best for him,” Raiola said.

“It’s really hard to lie. When a club like Barcelona or Real Madrid comes in for you, with so much history and being such a big club, it’s hard to say no.”

Raiola also teased the possibility of Haaland and Mbappe one day featuring alongside one another, saying: “In the big clubs, you can have great players together: Neymar and Messi have been together, Ronaldinho was with great players, Haaland could be alongside Mbappe or not. Great players always play together.”

For now, it appears a distant prospect, as Madrid and Barcelona, both hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis, weigh up the pros and cons of just one major transfer market splash.