Transfer News: Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona could cost Manchester United Erling Haaland initiative

According to The Express, the exit of Lionel Messi from Barcelona could mean bad news for Manchester United in their pursuit of Erling Haaland in the summer transfer window.

The Borussia Dortmund striker is one of the best young strikers in world football and has been on United’s radar for some time now. With a new striker on the agenda, there are few players better suited to serve our purpose than the Norwegian.

However, we face competition from a number of clubs for the 20-year-old’s signature. One of the teams in the fray are Barcelona.

The La Liga giants have a number of ageing superstars in their midst and are in need of a rebuild. While the Lionel Messi era could be coming to an end, the Haaland era could yet be about to begin.

The Argentine superstar is currently in the final few months of his contract at the Nou Camp. There is growing uncertainty as to what the future holds for Barcelona’s talisman.

The Catalans are not willing to be reactive and have instead started looking around for the next best thing. New president Joan Laporta has identified Haaland as the ideal target and could make a beeline for him in the summer.

Talk of the devil

Laporta also shares an excellent relationship with superagent Mino Raiola, who represents Haaland. The same cannot be said of United.

Messi’s potential departure could see Barcelona try to move heaven and earth to land the Norwegian. It would be in our best interests if the Argentine legend stayed put in Barcelona.

One of the clubs keen on the 33-year-old is Manchester City. Extending his stay at Barcelona will also prevent our arch-rivals from signing arguably the best player in the history of the game. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

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18 years ago, Manchester United were closing in on signing Ronaldinho, then at Paris Saint-Germain. The deal did not go through and Laporta ended up signing the player for Barcelona.

The rest as they say is history. Hopefully, the story will be different this time around with Haaland.