Manchester City have held a meeting with members of Barcelona's presidential candidate Victor Font regarding Erling Haaland.
This is as of Thursday's edition gameWho leaked information about the details of the meeting in Madrid.
Manchester City suffered a 3-0 Champions League defeat to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday. Federico Valverde scored a hat-trick, which greatly helped his position at Real Madrid.
The Premier League team's CEO, Ferran Soriano, and their sporting director, Hugo Viana, traveled to the Spanish capital for the match. This is normal, as officials from clubs participating in UEFA matches often meet and dine together.
However, they do not usually meet rival clubs.
what's different this time
Barcelona is in the midst of an election campaign for its new president. Current incumbent Joan Laporta called elections because he wants to consolidate his power at the club.
Victor Font is his main challenger and, as has happened in Barcelona and Real Madrid presidential elections throughout history, he is making big transfers to attract the fans' votes.
Carles Planchart and Javier Aguilar are members of Font's team and both met two Manchester City officials at the Four Seasons hotel in Madrid on Wednesday.
The main topic of talks between the two sides in Madrid was the Norway international. Securing a way to sign him would obviously bring votes.
Last year, Barça president Jon Laporta said “Nothing is impossible,” he said when asked about the possibility of bringing Haaland to the Camp Nou.
He is contesting again and will be up against some candidates including Font. The latter is also aiming to sign the Manchester City striker for Barcelona.
Planchart and Aguilar spoke to Soriano and Viana about a 'preferential option' to buy Haaland in the future.
Font does not intend to sign the 25-year-old in the summer. For now, they have only explored this possibility if Haaland decides to leave the Etihad in the coming years. Soriano and Viana's reactions are not mentioned.
Planchart knows the former Borussia Dortmund star well from his time at Manchester City. He was part of Pep Guardiola's backroom staff at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and the Premier League team between 2007 and 2025.
Journalist Carlos Monfort covered this report for the Catalan newspaper. he took xformerly known as Twitter, to share a video of Soriano and Viana leaving the hotel from the said meeting. Everything is adding up to the hype.
Our opinion: Manchester City need not panic
Barcelona's elections will be held on March 15. Font needs to be elected as the new president in order to consider signing Haaland in the future.
Even if Font wins the election, the La Liga winners' financial situation is unlikely to allow them to sign Haaland in the summer.
The Norwegian's contract expires in 2034 transfer market He is worth €200 million. Barca or any other club would need a big sum to lure him away from Manchester City.
Meanwhile, recent claims from Spain state that the Catalan club are considering Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez. Therefore, Guardiola's side will not have to worry about Barcelona potentially launching an attack for Haaland in the next window.
The Norwegian arrived at the Etihad in 2022 and has been the main striker for Guardiola since then.
He has played 186 matches for Manchester City and scored 153 goals. Of those impressive stats, there are 28 assists and 29 goals and seven assists this season.
Haaland is represented by Rafaela Pimenta, who currently has no other clients in Barcelona. As one of the top agents in world football, moving a client from Manchester City to Camp Nou would be within his capabilities.
However, possibly not this summer.
💣💥 special image @sport 💥💣
Victor Font's sports management negotiates a preferential purchase option for Barça to sign Haaland!
Summit in Madrid today with CEO, Ferran Soriano and Sports Director, Hugo Viana.
More information here https://t.co/XA6DGusCqa. pic.twitter.com/q7kiSa4Mae
- Carlos Monfort (@monfortcarlos) 11 March 2026
