Real Madrid are now showing serious interest in buying Man City striker Erling Haaland in the summer, according to reports.
The Norway international has been in incredible form once again this season with 19 goals in 20 Premier League and Champions League matches.
That comes after he hit 52 goals in 53 matches in all competitions in his first campaign at Man City last season with the Citizens winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
He is currently one of the most valuable players in world football with Man City missing him through injury over the last three matches against Luton Town, Red Star Belgrade and Crystal Palace.
There has been speculation since Haaland joined Man City in the summer of 2022 that he would at some point move on to Real Madrid or another big club in Europe.
It is perhaps too early to see Haaland leaving the Etihad Stadium over the next couple of transfer windows but Spanish publication Nacional insists it’s a possibility in 2024.
The report claims that the possibility of Haaland moving to the Bernabeu in the summer is ‘beginning to gain weight at Real Madrid’ with links to Kylian Mbappe ‘cooling down’.
It is understood that ‘everything seems to indicate that Real Madrid’s roadmap has changed’ in the direction of Haaland with the Norwegian having a clause in his contract.
They explain that his ‘sale price’ would be €200m (£172m) from summer 2024 but ‘would decrease as the player fulfills his contract at the Etihad Stadium’.
It is suggested that Haaland could even leave Man City for €150m in a year’s time with his release clause dropping ‘€10m per elapsed month’ until the winter of 2024.
Haaland has a contract at Man City until 2027 but Nacional claims that the Premier League club will ‘surely’ sell the striker at some point so they don’t have another Ilkay Gundogan case, with Pep Guardiola ‘still trying to replace him’.
The Man City striker was missing as the Citizens drew 2-2 against Crystal Palace on Saturday but Guardiola isn’t worried that he’ll be out for too long.
Speaking ahead of their match against Palace, Guardiola told reporters: “Arrive today, we see the doctors and we will see. He’s had treatment [away.] Hopefully he can travel to Saudi, tomorrow after the game, we see if he plays the first game or second. I dont think so [play vs Palace], maybe he surprises me.”
On whether he is worried, Guardiola added: “No. Not fractured, just stress. Sometimes players recover quickly, longer. Day by day, week by week, how he feels. The moment he doesn’t have pain he will play.”
