In the signing of a crack with a view to next season, Joan Laporta, the technical secretariat and Xavi have an established podium of preferences. It is formed, in this order, by Erling Haaland (21 years old), Mohamed Salah (29 years old) and Robert Lewandowski (33 years old). The Barça club guarantees, internally, that one of the three stars will arrive this summer. The situation of the three is different.
The favorite is Haaland, but Laporta has cooled down in recent weeks the interest in the Norwegian, that he is convinced of leaving Dortmund but that he is wanted by Real Madrid and Manchester City among others. “He would have to express his desire to come to Barça and, for the moment, he hasn’t. Either they adapt to the conditions or I see it as very far away,” Laporta said in a RAC1 interview.
As the Norwegian seems to be drifting away, Salah gains points. He is a footballer that Xavi likes. The signing of him would partly change the design of the template, who would bet on Aubameyang as a center forward and as Ansu as a possible replacement in the nine position (although the one from Bissau usually starts on the left). Salah would occupy the place that Dembélé will probably leave on the right. The Egyptian has not renewed with Liverpool. With a contract until 2023, that would open the door with a view to lowering the price of a transfer that, in any case, could not be a multimillionaire for Barça, which is still pending financial fairplay. . “If we don’t have losses and reduce negative net worth, we should have fairplay. But it is true that, according to interpretations, even then we couldn’t have it,” Laporta admitted Monday night.
On the third step of the podium, Robert Lewandowski. His goalscoring ability, his experience and his professionalism are highly valued. He has never been a problem player and would come to add. The problem with the Pole, who has been offered through Pini Zahavi, is that he will turn 34 in the summer. A signing of that age, if one attends to Laporta’s latest statements about Messi (“we are building a new team”), would be counterproductive for the Barca club’s project idea. Laporta has also expressed interest in Joao Félix, but that signing is a chimera for Barça now that the Portuguese’s status has changed. For Gil Marín, in addition, the Portuguese is untouchable. So if Haaland and Salah get as tough as it seems, Lewandowski could be the most real option…