Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland has been encouraged to go to Real Madrid after losing out on the Ballon d’Or and FIFA The Best award.
Haaland won the treble last season with Manchester City, scoring an incredible 52 goals along the way, but his efforts still weren’t enough to win the Ballon d’Or or The Best award. Lionel Messi scooped both prizes which has led Haaland’s camp to think the striker needs to move to Real Madrid if he is to be crowned the best male player in the world, according to AS. The feeling is that a move to the Santiago Bernabeu would also be the next step in the striker’s career and will offer far better opportunities of taking over from Messi and winning the Golden Ball in the future.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Haaland has been linked with a move to Madrid already and reportedly has a clause in his contract which means Los Blancos would have to pay less for the striker than their European rivals. Madrid’s priority is thought to be to land Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain, but an agreement is yet to materialise, which could open up the possibility of Madrid trying to land Haaland instead.
WHAT ALFIE HAALAND SAID
Haaland’s father spoke about his son missing out on The Best prize after the FIFA awards ceremony. He said: “It’s fair (that Messi won), because it was through a voting system [the vote was tied but Messi won due to having more votes from team captains). So it’s fair, yes.
“But it’s going to be difficult to have a season like the one Erling did again, with the team winning everything and him setting all the records. All the luck in the world to whoever tries to beat that record.”
WHAT NEXT FOR HAALAND?
Haaland is contracted to Manchester City until 2027 but his deal does include a release clause which can reportedly be activated by clubs outside Europe in the summer. An interesting summer potentially awaits, particularly if Mbappe does not end up moving to Madrid.
