Manchester City are widely believed to be leading the race to sign Erling Haaland in the summer, although one former Pep Guardiola player has offered a warning ahead of any potential deal.
City are believed to be fighting Real Madrid for the 21-year-old Borussia Dortmund striker, but reports over the past month suggested that City will activate the £65m release clause in the player's contract and would be prepared to pay him £500,000 per week.
Haaland - who has scored a remarkable 80 goals in 84 appearances for Dortmund - is a generational talent, his brilliance recognised by him winning the 2020 Golden Boy award. As such there are other clubs interested in signing him, with one of those being Barcelona.
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Barca president Joan Laporta has claimed that the Catalan giants are capable of signing the striker, despite what their financial situation suggests. However, in a recent interview with Barcelona-based newspaper SPORT, the club's full-back Dani Alves, a favourite of City boss Guardiola, had his say on a potential pursuit of Haaland.
"I would not throw everything at Haaland," Alves offered candidly. "Sincerely, I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on him. On [Kylian] Mbappe, yes, but Haaland no. I'm playing at sporting director here, but I'd bet on Mbappe first. He seems more complete in every aspect. If you are going to make a huge investment, you have to do it on the best. If it was up to me, I'd bet on Mbappe."
Given how unusual it is for players to comment on their own team's transfer business, it's quite the statement from Alves. Some City fans and pundits have questioned whether Haaland has the all-around skill set to play in Guardiola's system, so for Alves to claim that Mbappe is a more complete attacker is interesting.
This could be a warning from the most decorated male player in the history of the game, but it could also be a hint that Barca's supposed interest in Haaland is in fact nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
It seems unlikely that Alves would come out and make such remarks if there was a good chance that Haaland could end up being his teammate next season. There could be an awkward tension in the Camp Nou dressing room if that was the case.
In that case, with no guarantee that Real Madrid could afford the wages of both Haaland and likely summer arrival Mbappe, there might be little opportunity for Haaland to go and play his football in Spain.
Should that be the case then City will be overwhelming favourites to be Haaland's next destination, regardless of what Alves thinks of him.
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