Are Barcelona playing the long game with Erling Haaland? ‘Mythical’ transfer addressed as prolific Man City striker sees La Liga move speculated on

On the back of landing another domestic title in 2025-26, Barca have agreed to part with two proven performers. Prolific Polish frontman Robert Lewandowski has bid farewell to Catalunya as a free agent - and is now plying his trade in MLS - while World Cup-winning Spain international Ferran Torres has left for Paris Saint-Germain in a €50 million (£43m/$58m) transfer.

The exciting potential of Egyptian wonderkid Hamza Abdelkarim was acquired in February, but he is just 18 years of age and relatively untested at the very highest level. There has been plenty of discussion regarding supposed interest in want-away Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez.

The 26-year-old Argentine may yet end up at Camp Nou, but another goalscorer with ties to Manchester City has been registering on the recruitment radar for some time. Haaland has found the target on 162 occasions across 200 appearances for Premier League heavyweights.

He is tied to a contract through to 2034, but that has done little to quieten exit talk in England. Haaland’s father, Alf Inge, has left the transfer door ajar - with a new challenge in Spain holding plenty of appeal. Are Barca biding their time and readying an approach for 2027?

When that question was put to McManaman, the former City star - who was speaking to GOAL courtesy of ESPN on Disney+, who will be showing Atletico’s trip to Sevilla this Saturday - said: “Maybe. Everybody's got this mythical thing that Erling wants to play in in Spain don't they.

“I mean whether Barcelona could even afford Erling is another question, so maybe they are playing the long game, I have no idea. Erling seems very, very happy at City - signed a huge long-term contract last year didn't he.

“But I agree, I thought they were quite short up front last year and they went and won the league quite comfortably. Robert's gone, Ferran's gone, who is their centre-forward this year?

“I think [Karim] Adeyemi’s not really an out-and-out number nine, he's more of a typical speedster isn't he, you've got Raphinha, you've got [Anthony] Gordon, you've got Lamine [Yamal].

“Whenever I looked at Barcelona last year they did the same, the year before they did the same. I looked at various areas and thought they look short there, they look short there, and then they go and obliterate everybody.

“I look at Eric Garcia, he played about four or five positions last year and I'm thinking to myself ‘can he play there, can he play there, and actually he can, he can play bloody everywhere!’

“So they continue to surprise me, but I'm the same, I still think they need a positional number nine. Whether they have one in La Masia, coming up as a youngster who can do a job for you for maybe 10-15 games is another thing.

“Madrid have brought [Carlos] Espi, scored a few goals already, again a different type of player. But you know Lamine will get 20 if he stays fit, Raphinha will get another 25 if he stays fit, and Adeyemi I bet he'll get 20, and Gordon will, if he plays enough games, get 20 goals. They tend to spread it around a little bit more evenly than Real Madrid.”

Barcelona deployed Germany international Adeyemi down the middle when opening their 2026-27 campaign away at Elche. He was among the goals in a crushing 5-0 win, with Raphinha and Fermin Lopez bagging a brace apiece.

Hansi Flick’s defending champions now have back-to-back home games approaching, with the first of those seeing them face Athletic Club on Thursday. They will then - with Haaland rumours ticking over in the background - play host to Rayo Vallecano on August 31.

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