FC Barcelona Will Try To Sign Lewandowski Or These Other Strikers If Operation Haaland Fails

FC Barcelona will go all in for Erling Haaland this summer and pull out all the stops to land a striker that could form part of club history for the next decade or so.

While in Norway figures such as Jan Aage Fjortoft put the youngster closer to a move to Manchester City, where his father Alf-Inge once played in the Premier League, the Catalan media insist that Haaland has been “seduced” by Barca following a Munich meeting with first team coach Xavi Hernandez last week.

In any event, Barca need a Plan B in case the 21-year-old does indeed choose the Etihad or elsewhere as his next destination after Borussia Dortmund and they cannot pull off the $340mn coup. According to Sport on Friday, the Catalans’ search will stay in Germany and head over to Bavaria where back-to-back winner of FIFA’s The Best award Robert Lewandowski is a free man next year.

While the Blaugrana would of course have to wait until the summer of 2023 to pick up the Pole for nothing, his contractual situation could force current club Bayern Munich to sell him for a cut fee.

Despite being arguably the best targetman in the world and in impeccable shape, however, Lewandowski is no spring chicken at 33 and would be just a stop gap for a season or two.

Due to this, Real Sociedad’s Alexander Isak (22) and Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez (24) are perhaps more viable, long-term options.

Of the pair, Argentina international Martinez, who won the Copa America alongside Lionel Messi in Brazil last year, is more familiar with the La Liga giants who came close to signing him in 2020.

Pre-pandemic, talk of Barca snatching Martinez away from the Serie A filled endless column inches in both the Catalan and Italian press until the pandemic swept in and contributed to a club-wide crisis that plunged Barca into around $1.5bn’s worth of debt.

Also fancied is perhaps the cheapest option of the lot in Red Bull Salzburg ace Karim-David Adeyemi, who is currently valued at €35mn ($38.5mn) and a possible replacement for Haaland at Dortmund if Barca don’t act fast.