Real Madrid: Haaland prefers move to the Bernabéu

Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland has made his choice: his preference would be to join Real Madrid. The player’s father, Alf-Inge Haaland, has made this plain to Madrid general manager José Ángel Sánchez.

Real Madrid won't be drawn into Haaland bidding war

However, there are two obstacles in the way of Haaland’s desired move to the Bernabéu: Dortmund’s unwillingness to sell, and the figures the 20-year-old's agent, Mino Raiola, wants to extract from the deal.

Sources at Madrid say there is no way the Spanish champions will allow Raiola to drag them into a bidding war with Barcelona, Manchester City and Liverpool, the three other clubs leading the race for the Norwegian international.

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Real Madrid only willing to push the boat out for Mbappé

If Dortmund finally do agree to negotiate Haaland’s sale - which will likely require the player to ask for a transfer first - Madrid will make the Bundesliga club an offer, but Bernabéu chief Florentino Pérez is intent on keeping the price as low as possible.

Pérez, who called presidential elections at Madrid on Thursday, is unlikely to countenance the 150 to 175-million-euro valuation being placed on the player in Germany.

Madrid are reserving any outlay of that scale for their pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain and France striker Kylian Mbappé, who is their top long-term transfer target.

Dortmund expected to sell one of Haaland and Sancho this summer

Currently, Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc, who became the club’s highest ever appearance maker in 17 seasons as a player for the eight-time German title winners, is refusing to listen to offers for either Haaland or fellow starlet Jadon Sancho.

However, a number of analysts believe Dortmund will in the end let one of the two leave in the summer, and Madrid - who are also keeping tabs on Sancho - are hopeful it’ll be Haaland.