Barcelona 'Obsessed' With Stopping Rival Signing Erling Haaland

Barcelona are desperate that their rivals don't sign Erling Haaland, even if it doesn't lead to the Catalan giants signing the striker themselves.

Haaland is expected to leave Borussia Dortmund next summer, due to his reported £68 million transfer release clause coming into action.

All of Europe's major clubs have been linked with the striker, with Premier League clubs Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United amongst them.

Barcelona are another team who have been rumoured to be interested, with the player's agent Mino Raiola having met the club's representatives on a couple of occasions.

According to Marca, during a meeting a couple of days ago, Barce president Joan Laporta didn't just discuss his own teams chances of signing the Norwegian, but also rivals Real Madrid.

The report claims that Laporta is desperate for Haaland to go anywhere else but Real, and he is worried about his team's rivals getting an incredible attacking line up.

Haaland is expected to move on from Dortmund this summer. Image: PA Images

Los Blancos are already expected to sign Kylian Mbappe in the summer, with the PSG forward's contract in France expiring in June.

That signing would improve Real no end and make their attacking line up a very scary prospect, with Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior already leading the line.

Laporta however fears that his opposition president Florentino Perez could also try to add Haaland to the squad in the summer, even with Mbappe joining.

That would mean Real having a front three that could be as potent as when Barca had Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar together, creating the famous MSN trio.

Barcelona are worried their famous ex trio could be recreated with different players in Madrid. Image: PA Images

Barcelona have had their own financial problems recently, which led to Messi's departure to PSG, but the president's current problem could still mean a move from them for the former Red Bull Salzburg forward.

It could require them to find some more money from selling players, especially with Manchester City forward Ferran Torres expected to join in January.

The Spain international is thought to be costing Laporta's side €55 million, likely to be paid in installments, with Xavi looked to offload some players to help balance the books.

Haaland has also been talked about as a potential replacement for Mbappe and Bayern Munich have also been talked about, which wouldn't go down well with Dortmund at all.

Topics: Transfers, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund, La Liga, Barcelona, Real Madrid, El Clasico

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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