‘Obsessed’ Barcelona president strikes transfer ‘agreement’ with agent of Man City star Haaland
The agent of Man City striker Erling Haaland has struck an ‘agreement’ with Barcelona president Joan Laporta over a transfer, according to reports.
The Citizens had a poor season by their standards in 2024/25 with Pep Guardiola’s side finishing third in the Premier League after looking like they might miss out on Champions League qualification with a month or two of the campaign to go.
Man City won the four previous league titles and they will be looking to get back to their best this term – but they have started inconsistently.
City have acquired just seven points from their opening five Premier League matches with Guardiola’s men picking up their first draw of the season against Arsenal on Sunday.
There have been rumours that Haaland is not happy with the way things are going on the pitch at Man City with reports he wants to win the Premier League or Champions League this season in order for the Citizens to secure his future.
Haaland has been in great form for club and country this term with seven goals in six matches for Man City and six goals in two games for Norway.
READ: Haaland runaway early favourite for Golden Boot after sixth goal of the season
Barcelona have been heavily linked with a move to Haaland next summer with one report recently claiming that president Joan Laporta has an ‘obsession’ with the Man City striker.
And now reports in Spain claim that the Barcelona president has struck an ‘an agreement’ with Haaland’s agent Rafaela Pimienta with his representative having ‘a good relationship with Laporta, which has facilitated the existence of a verbal agreement between the two parties’.
The report adds: ‘And he has assured him that if he ultimately decides to leave the Etihad Stadium in 2026, he will do so solely to play for Barça, and will reject any other offers that may come his way.’
However, Football Insider journalist Pete O’Rourke recently insisted that a move to Barcelona in the summer transfer window is unlikely at this stage.
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O’Rourke told Football Insider: “No, it’s highly unlikely. I think he’d be a dream signing for almost any club, Haaland, and Man City are lucky enough to have him.
“He signed a new long-term contract extension last year to keep him at the Etihad until 2034, so to try and prise Haaland out of Man City would take well in excess of £150million, even more than that.
“City don’t want to lose their star man, we know how important he is to Man City with five goals in four Premier League games so far this season.
“He is arguably the best striker in Europe, his figures tell you that, so Man City don’t want to lose him.
“Barcelona would love the idea of having Haaland as a long-term replacement for Lewandowski, but their financial issues would make it very, very hard for them.
“They would have to sell a number of their other players to fund that deal.”
