Barcelona have decided to make their move to sign Erling Haaland from Manchester City next summer, believing now is the time to go and get him.
That’s [according to journalist Jota Jordi on El Chiringuito](https://x.com/elchiringuitotv/status/1868835165856055805), who reports that Barcelona’s upper management and president Joan Laporta are in constant contact with Haaland’s entourage about a transfer.
Speculation continues to swirl around Haaland’s future at the Etihad despite still having three years on his current deal.
That deal will have two years left to run on it by next summer and it remains to be seen if Manchester City can convince him to extend his contract at that point. If they cannot, a sale seems likely as the club would want to avoid selling him at a reduced cost in the final year of his contract.
The 24-year-old is believed to have a release clause in his current deal, as he has done at all his previous clubs. Indeed, that release clause has been activated to take him from Salzburg to Dortmund and Dortmund to Manchester City.
A move to Spain to either Barcelona or Real Madrid has long been seen as the next in line, particularly if Manchester City are punished heavily in their ongoing dispute with the Premier League.
Now, according to Jordi, Barcelona have decided to go all in and test that as they look for the successor to Robert Lewandowski.
“They say to me, we all know that Laporta has a very good relationship with the people of Erling Haaland, Rafaela Pimienta,” he said.
“They have a very good relationship, and this relationship is always maintained over time, they speak very often, I will not tell you every week, but they do have a very fluid contact.
“And to me, what they tell me today, December 16, that the decision is made. The events of today have made Barcelona make the decision to activate Erling Haaland to be the center forward next season.
“They doubt not only that Robert Lewandowski can hold on for 70 games being an undisputed starter, they doubt, from what they are seeing, that Hansi Flick believes that Robert Lewandowski can be the starting forward for these 70 games and because they believe that it is the right time to get Haaland out of Manchester City.
“We all know the situation in Manchester City, the stumbling blocks that he has on the table, the results that Pep Guardiola’s team is carrying, and from what they tell me, the player is also already predisposed and with the decision taken to leave next summer.”