Manchester City striker Erling Haaland should be a long-term transfer target for Barcelona, according to one of the candidates in the running for the Catalan club’s presidency.
Víctor Font has outlined his desire to sign Haaland should he become the next Barcelona president, while the club are also exploring summer transfer options before making a final decision on buying Marcus Rashford.
Font’s declaration – made on radio station Cadena Ser on Wednesday – is likely to be viewed as a ploy to enhance his chances of winning the election. He trails current president Joan Laporta in the polls.
But the situation has gained added intrigue after Font was pictured leaving Manchester City’s team hotel in Madrid, where Haaland and the rest of Pep Guardiola’s players had been staying. Font was spotted alongside Carles Planchart, the former City analyst who remains close with Guardiola.
Sport, the Catalan newspaper, claimed that Font had discussed Haaland’s future with City’s director of football Hugo Viana during a trip to the Four Seasons Hotel in Madrid. City were in the Spanish capital this week for the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie against Real Madrid, which they lost 3-0 after a first-half hat-trick from Federico Valverde.
City sources said that Planchart had been invited to the hotel to see his former colleagues out of courtesy given his close relations with many after nine years at the club.
Nonetheless, Font has spelt out his determination to bring Haaland to Barcelona one day should he win the presidency. He also acknowledged Real’s past attempts to sign the Norway striker, who turned down their advances to join City from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 and signed a new 10-year contract with the Manchester club last year.
“Haaland is one of the best centre-forwards in the world,” said Font, a Spanish businessman. “It is not possible to sign him in the short-term because he renewed last year, but personally I am convinced that these long contracts are not possible to be fulfilled and this is where we must be attentive to the situation of a player who loves Spain, who when he came here made statements about how amazed he was about Camp Nou.
“Madrid has also wanted him, so making a movement that protects us and gives us this option, I am convinced that it can happen.”
On Wednesday, reacting to Font’s claims, Haaland’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, moved to play down talk of a move to Barcelona.
“We have a lot of respect and admiration for Barcelona, but there hasn’t been any contact whatsoever – with Erling Haaland or with Barcelona’s management, regarding potential transfer targets,” Pimenta told El Chiringuito TV.
“Also, because the player renewed his contract a few months ago, he’s very happy at Manchester City. Everything is going very well for him and we really have nothing to discuss about a transfer when everything is so good at City.”
Haaland, 25, struggled during Wednesday’s heavy defeat by Real and had just 10 touches of the ball but he has been an extraordinary success at City since his £51m move from Dortmund with 153 goals in 186 matches.
Guardiola promoted Haaland to the City leadership group last summer and the manager believes the striker could captain the club in the future. He is fond of Spain and has a holiday home in Malaga.
Font has been embroiled in a bitter battle with Laporta, who is leading the polls at present.
Despite Barcelona’s financial issues with debts of over £1bn, both have maintained the club can spend in the transfer market.
Rashford, 28, is on a season-long loan at the Spanish champions and they have an option to buy him for around £26m at the end of the campaign, with Hansi Flick and others at Camp Nou pleased with the deal from Manchester United.
Barca are currently top of La Liga and Rashford has scored 10 goals during his eight months at the club. He has made 14 league starts and overall has made 38 appearances for his new club.
Rashford’s fixed price of €30m in the summer makes him an attractive proposition for Barcelona, whose spending has been modest by their standards over the last few windows as they look to comply with financial rules.
But they are known to have sounded out potential wide-forwards ahead of the summer transfer window, as well as having the Rashford option in place. It means Rashford’s permanent move to Catalonia is not guaranteed.
Meanwhile, Jérémy Doku believes it would be “crazy” to completely write off City’s chances of overturning their 3-0 deficit in the second leg against Real at the Etihad Stadium next Tuesday.
“It would be crazy if I said there was no chance,” the City winger said. “Obviously they are a massive team, but we know that they scored three goals against us so why can’t we? At the Etihad, we will need our fans to put pressure [on them]. Everything is possible in football so we still believe.
“If they are with us, it’s a completely different game. We really need them to push us and put pressure on them and to hear them because maybe they don’t know but it has a lot of influence on us on the pitch. We trust that they will be there for us and they’ll cheer us on.”