Real Madrid are attempting to sign Erling Haaland in just over 18 months, with the Spanish giants hoping to persuade the Manchester City forward to move.
Haaland would have been one of the hottest properties in world football last summer if City hadn't swooped so early to pay his Borussia Dortmund release clause.
It's certainly proved to be excellent business at around £52 million, with the Norwegian having already bagged himself 18 goals in 13 Premier League games.
Very few teams have been able to work out how to stop him, although Brentford's Thomas Frank has now explained how his team managed it.
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One team who were interested in the 22-year-old was Real Madrid, though their priorities lay in signing Kylian Mbappe in the summer.
That move fell through, with the Frenchman deciding to stay with PSG, and by the time they could have moved for Haaland it was too late, which gave those of us still annoyed at Florentino Perez over the whole European Super League thing a good laugh.
However, the Spanish giants are not giving up the chance to sign him in the future and are reportedly eyeing up a move in 2024.
According to AS, they are going to work on persuading Haaland to leave the Etihad Stadium, in what could be the hardest part of trying to sign him.
The 14 times European champions are banking on the former Red Bull Salzburg man's potential €180 million release clause to sign him.
Release clauses in his contracts led to his departures at both Salzburg and Dortmund, with then agent Mino Raiola reportedly insisting on them in deals.
The superagent passed away earlier this year, with Rafaela Pimenta taking over representation of the former Molde striker.
Pimenta has since claimed that her client could become the first €1 billion player in the history of the sport and, considering there's only been one €200 million, that's certainly a huge claim.
She has been coy on whether or not there is actually a release clause in the contract, whilst Pep Guardiola has previously denied that it exists.
However, according to reports, the clause if for teams outside of the Premier League and comes into play at the end of the 2023/24 season.
If that is the case, then Real would only need to concentrate on persuading the player to leave Manchester, as long as they can stump up the cash.
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Real are expecting the move to coincide with Karim Benzema's time at the Bernabeu winding down, with the Ballon d'Or winner deal ending in 2024, when he'll be 36.
Mbappe's own future is still in the balance, with claims that he is already unhappy at PSG, despite signing a new deal in the summer.
He has been linked to Manchester United as a potential replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, which doesn't seem particularly likely...
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Premier League, Manchester City Transfer News & Rumours, Manchester City, Transfers, Real Madrid, La Liga, Erling Haaland
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