BEVERLY HILLS, April 13, (THEWILL) – The hottest football product so far this season, both in domestic football and in Europe, has clearly been the one touted as the next best thing to happen to the game since Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo took the football world by storm. He is the exceptional Norwegian striker for the Bundesliga Borussia Dortmund side Erling Haaland.
Especially because of his sterling qualities as a game-changing forward with a clear eye for goal and the talent to make it happen every time, Haaland has earned the interest of every big club with pockets deep enough to attract him to their side and pry him from the stiff hands of the German club. As a result, his agent Carmine “Mino” Raiola has had a tough schedule ahead of the opening of the transfer window.
Even as Raiola has confirmed Dortmund’s determination to maintain their firm hold of the Norwegian, the Dutch-Italian agent is adamant that he will continue exploring all his options as is his responsibility.
The start of that exploration saw Raiola flying to some of Europe’s biggest capitals for talks with football’s biggest clubs recently. He has not hidden the fact that this all ties to plotting big-money moves for Haaland. So far, he has discussed the subject with La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. He is expected to continue those talks in England as well with Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City all targeted.
All these come after Dortmund have repeatedly insisted that their determination is to keep Haaland. Michael Zorc, Dortmund Sporting Director, recently made it plainly clear: “I like to stick to what the contractual basis looks like and how the direct talks went last week. We have a very clear plan to go into the new season with Erling.”
This has not fazed Raiola, whose response was that he would be amiss of his responsibilities as an agent of the player if he was not constantly on the lookout for options for Haaland, wherever these options may exist. In response to Zorc’s stance, the 53-year-old said:
“I can confirm that I was in Dortmund for talks, Michael Zorc made it clear to us that BVB do not want to sell Erling this summer. I respect that opinion, but that does not automatically mean that I also agree. BVB were very clear in their views, and we are okay with that.
“There is no war between us and BVB – absolutely not! The relationship with Zorc, Hans-Joachim Watzke and Sebastian Kehl is still good.”
He also denied stories making the rounds that he was using this opportunity to cash out on huge fees for his services or that Haaland was seeking incredible salary raises with the transfer.
“There is a lot of nonsense written about me. But I don’t care. I will never talk about talks or negotiations in the media. I only talk about that with my players, their families and the respective clubs.”
As Raiola continues his Europe-wide search for suitors for Haaland, the possibility of the sensational forward leaving the Bundesliga remains up in the air, especially with the club’s insistence on keeping him.
The case is sharply reminiscent of the situation surrounding the striker not a few have claimed Haaland has come to replace, the Barcelona legend, Lionel Messi, whose contract situation with his club became so fractious in the previous summer transfer season, it almost caused an irreparable rift within the club itself and affected their football.
For Dortmund, while no formal requests for the striker has been made, they have shown how unwilling they are to trade Haaland by placing a fee close to £150m for willing suitors which, in a post-COVID world, they know to be on the high side.
It is working exactly as they envisaged as City and Real are not expected to shell out that kind of money today, while United are also prepared to pull out of talks early if the figure remains that exorbitant.
THEWILL believes Raiola will have his work cut out for him if he is to successfully plot Haaland’s move elsewhere this summer.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
