Vice President Yuste Ends FC Barcelona’s Quest To Sign Haaland

FC Barcelona were once touted as being among the front runners to land Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund this summer.

According to Sport, the Norwegian striker had even been “seduced” by the Blagurana – whose coach Xavi Hernandez headed to Munich earlier this month to sell him the first team’s project moving forward – and wanted to sign for them above all other potential suitors.

Tabling a total offer rumored to be around $338mn dollars for the youngster, however, which includes his release clause, salary and hefty commission payments to Mino Raiola and the player’s father Alfe-Inge, was always going to be tall order for the Catalans steeped in around $1.5bn’s worth of debt.

As Manchester City are able to put together such a package and then some, however, they currently lead the race for Haaland which has led to the public realization and admission from president Joan Laporta that his outfit just can’t keep pace.

“Mateu Alemany, Jordi Cruyff and the staff are working on [signings],” Laporta said via Esport3 a fortnight ago. “I understand the fans are excited, but there are operations that are very difficult.

“Even if our financial situation is the best it could possibly be, there are some deals that we would still not do for the sake of the club. We won’t do any deals that place the club’s [future] at risk,” Laporta concluded.

Now after saying that the approach for Haaland is “almost” ruled out on Friday, Laporta’s right-hand man and vice president Rafa Yuste has thrown further cold water on it.

“We have found ourselves in a terrible economic situation that has prevented us from meeting our expectations. As the president said, we have to protect our entity and for that we cannot carry out operations of this magnitude of money,” Yuste pointed out on Saturday.

“I will not say that it is unfeasible because in the world of football everything can change, but it is very difficult” he then concluded.

Barca now need to look at other options for a long-term number ‘9’ given Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s advancing years. But as the higher-ups have suggested, no star is worth breaking the bank over if economic stability will be compromised as a consequence.