Man City: Haaland to Barcelona ‘door opened’ by ‘creative’ Laporta in Guardiola ‘perfect fit’

Barcelona president Joan Laporta believes he has come up with a ‘creative’ solution to secure the signing of Erling Haaland from Manchester City in the summer.

The Norway international has been a revelation since his move to City from Borussia Dortmund, playing a key role in their treble in his debut season, and he’s made a brilliant start to the new Premier League campaign with ten goals in seven games.

But with the 115 charges hanging over the Citizens and the threat of points deductions or even Premier League expulsion there’s doubt over the future of Pep Guardiola and a number of the club’s high-profile stars, of which Haaland is the most valuable.

He’s currently valued at €200m and while reports suggest Barcelona will use their new deal with sportswear giants Nike to pursue Haaland , president Laporta is also looking at ways of reducing the fee.

According to a report in Spain, he believes ‘Frenkie de Jong could be the key piece in one of the most ambitious operations that Laporta has planned for FC Barcelona’.

He’s willing to do ‘everything possible’ to land Haaland and will use De Jong ‘as a strategic currency to reduce the cost of a transfer that could be astronomical’.

De Jong is out of contract in the summer in 2026 and there are no talks over an extension despite Hansi Flick’s insistence that the Dutchman is an important part of his plans.

But the report claims that De Jong could be a useful negotiation tool with City as he would ‘fit perfectly into Pep Guardiola’s scheme’ and ‘would open a door for the barter to take place’.

The report continues:

‘Erling Haaland, who has a contract with Manchester City until 2027, has always expressed his admiration for Spanish football and, especially, for the history of FC Barcelona. Laporta believes that this is the right time to convince the Norwegian to lead the Barça project in the next decade. The signing of Haaland would be a blow on the table not only at the sporting level, but also in the battle for the presidency, since Laporta plans to secure his re-election with a movement of such magnitude.’

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Earlier this week it was claimed that Haaland ‘has one very clear condition: if he comes to Camp Nou, he will do so to be the big star’ and ‘would not want to compete for minutes’ with Robert Lewandowski.

The Poland legend is someone Haaland ‘respects as one of the best scorers of the last decade’ but the Norwegian is demanding that Barcelona get rid of the striker before his arrival.

Barcelona president Laporta ‘is aware that, in order to meet Haaland’s demands , he will have to negotiate the departure of Lewandowski’.

The Man City striker has made it clear that ‘he is not willing to share the spotlight with anyone’ and it will be ‘painful for a part of the fans’ to watch Lewandowski – who has scored 71 goals in 106 matches for the Catalan giants – leave.