Real Madrid's pursuit of Haaland takes MASSIVE blow

Suraj Radia

• 9 May 2023 17:25 BST
• 2 min read

Real Madrid are hoping to sign Erling Haaland next summer but they may be dealt a significant blow in their plans with reports that the Norwegian is plotting a longer stay at Manchester City than anticipated.

Haaland joined City last summer from Dortmund and his contract was understood to have a clause in it that allowed him to leave next summer for €200 million.

However, the clause has since been removed from his contract, with a recent revelation that it was tied to the future of manager Pep Guardiola, who renewed his contract until 2025 in November.

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Haaland is having a scintillating debut season with City, breaking the Premier League record for most goals in a season after recently scoring for the 35th time, and the 22-year-old is said to be ‘enjoying his time immensely’ with the club.

The striker’s father spoke last summer of Haaland’s desire to play in ‘every’ league and claimed Erling would only remain at a club for ‘three or four years maximum’ before moving on, prompting fears that he would pursue a move to Real in the future.

A report in The Times states that Haaland ‘will one day play for Real’ according to people close to him but the plan of him only staying for three seasons could be amended, with the ex-Dortmund man looking to remain with City for another year as he is ‘enjoying his time there so much’.

Haaland was seen as Real’s long-term successor to Karim Benzema, who will be 36 next summer, but the City man is said to be enjoying the ‘physical aspect’ of the Premier League as well as playing for. ‘the best coach in the world’ in Guardiola.

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Real believed they were in pole position to sign Haaland last summer prior to his move to City but, despite holding talks with the Spaniards, the striker preferred a switch to the Premier League, particularly with Benzema being in the form of his life at the time.

Benzema is set to stay at Real until next summer, at which point Real will look to sign a replacement for him and Haaland was Madrid’s top priority prior to his release clause being removed.

The absence of the clause could make a transfer difficult, with City having no desire to sell Haaland and Real could turn to Kylian Mbappe instead, having received an apology from the Paris Saint-Germain forward for turning down a move to Madrid last summer.

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Mbappe is entering the final year of his contract with PSG and, despite having the option to renew for a further year, he could choose to leave the French side on a free transfer in order to join Real, leaving a pursuit for Haaland redundant.