Manchester City ready to sell Erling Haaland for £150 million? Striker's transfer value revealed amidst Barcelona interest

FC Barcelona are planning to replace Robert Lewandowski with Bayern Munich's Harry Kane in what is seen as a short-term deal. While Polish captain Lewandowski is 37, his English counterpart is 32, meaning he can't be around for very long either. Raphinha and Ferran Torres are scoring goals in plenty, keeping the plan of signing a veteran striker a reliable model for Hansi Flick's team as things stand. But what about the long run?

Earlier reports had said that Barcelona were looking to sign Erling Haaland from Manchester City. The 25-year-old goal machine, who is breaking scoring records at ease, joined Pep Guardiola's team in 2022 from Borussia Dortmund. In his debut Premier League season, Haaland scored 36 goals, making him the player to score the most goals in a single campaign. He also became the fastest player to 10 Premier League hat-tricks after 48 games. On the European stage, the Norwegian scored 5 goals against RB Leipzig in a single Champions League knockout match, becoming only the third player to do so. He also became the fastest to score 30 goals in the competition when he reached the mark in just 25 appearances.

Will Manchester City sell Haaland?

Erling Haaland, not long after his arrival from Dortmund, had confirmed that he was interested in fresh challenges as his career progressed. This meant that he was not planning to spend his best years as a Citizen and may consider a switch when an interesting prospect was available despite having signed a long-term deal that is meant to keep him at the Etihad until he is 34. There were also theories of Real Madrid combining Haaland with Kylian Mbappé in the future with the Los Blancos in the process of building another 'Galacticos' era.

It was very much later that Barcelona started to emerge as a serious contender to sign Haaland. While his interest in joining the Catalans is largely unknown, many had ruled out Barca having the financial muscle to get Haaland. They were struggling financially in recent years although the La Liga win under Flick had helped them improve their situation.

If Haaland is determined to leave, City will have to ensure the sale of their talismanic striker brings in some real contributions to their coffers. According to Football Insider, the Manchester City higher-ups have set a price tag of over £150 million for any team interested in signing the player next season.

FC Barcelona, for their part, will have to carefully evaluate whether it's feasible to pursue his signing next summer. According to reports, Haaland is being handed £500,000 per week as basic pay. The deal not only entails paying a multi-million-euro fee, but there are alternatives the Catalans could explore. These include combining payments over multiple instalments or agreements that involve players as part of the deal, although everything will depend on Manchester City's stance.