HAALAND’S AGENT IN SPAIN FOR REAL AND BARCA TALKS

MINO RAIOLA’S intention of auctioning Manchester City target Erling Haaland off to the highest bidder this summer was made clear yesterday when he flew to Spain for meetings with both Barcelona and Real Madrid. Raiola and Erling’s father Alf-Inge had a two-hour meeting with Barcelona president Joan Laporta and the club’s director of football Mateu Alemany. The agent then flew to Madrid, where reports in Spain claimed he met Real Madrid president Florentino Perez. Laporta has a good relationship with Raiola following the deal the two men did in 2009 to take Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the Nou Camp. The Norwegian forward’s agent has a far frostier relationship with Perez, having never moved a player to the Spanish club.

Both Madrid and Barcelona have huge financial problems and La Liga president Javier Tebas has cast doubts on Spanish clubs’ ability to compete with the Premier League this summer. Barca have a crippling shortterm debt crisis and an urgent need to drastically reduce their wage bill. But plans to sell off corporate offshoots of the club, including Barca Studios and Barca Innovation Hub, coupled with plans to offload big earners such as Philippe Coutinho are behind cautious optimism the club can make Haaland an offer. Raiola and Haaland Snr are due to travel to London as part of their tour ahead of talks to discuss the striker’s future with Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.