This summer, Manchester City snatched up one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe, Erling Haaland, signing him from Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of €60 million. A deal to bring the Norwegian international to the Premier League was finally finalized in late May after months of speculation.
In the short time since he first appeared on the scene, Haaland has grown rapidly, piquing the curiosity of many top European clubs, including Real Madrid. It was widely reported throughout the most recent season that the 2021-22 La Liga champions were interested in luring the 21-year-old rising star.
However, the young striker opted for the Citizens. As a result, Madrid shifted their attention to acquiring Kylian Mbappe, only for the Frenchman to stay at Parc des Princes, leaving the Whites' president Florentino Perez empty-handed with nothing from either of his two targets.
Why Erling Haaland would have been a substitute at Real Madrid
For the first time in four decades, Los Blancos did not sign any new reinforcements during the summer transfer window of 2020, opting to preserve money instead. Then, last season, they parted ways with Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane in order to save costs.
Due to a lack of big-name players coming in recently, the club's supporters had begun putting pressure on Perez. However, the chairman of the Santiago Bernabeu site has stated that he was unconcerned about missing out on any of these high-profile deals.
The president, who previously maintained that Kylian Mbappe had been 'forgotten,' has claimed that adding Erling Haaland would have been a bad idea. As a result, he has also revealed that the club did not attempt to recruit the Norwegian because he could not remove Karim Benzema from the starting lineup.
“Mbappe deal didn’t create any problem with Haaland deal, absolutely. We have Benzema, so it was impossible to have him with Karim. We can’t sign Haaland to stay on the bench. Haaland is an amazing, fantastic player", Perez said in an interview with El Chiringuito.