Barcelona convinced Real Madrid will sign Mbappe as they increase efforts for Haaland to compete with Liga rivals

Posted Saturday, March 05, 2022 by Goal.com

The PSG star is widely expected to move to Spain when his contract expires at season's end

By Jorge C. Picon, Adria Soldevila and Ruben Uría.

Barcelona are becoming increasingly convinced that Kylian Mbappe will sign for Real Madrid, GOAL can confirm.

Mbappe's future is one of world football's biggest stories, with the Paris Saint-Germain star set to see his contract with the club expire after this season.

What do we know?

Barcelona are one of several top clubs interested in signing Mbappe, but they believe that Real Madrid are in pole position.

In fact, they believe a deal may already be done between Mbappe's representatives and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

"It would be very difficult for Florentino to lose Mbappe now. They must have signed something," says a senior Barcelona official.

On the Real Madrid side, the club insists there is no agreement with the player, nothing has been signed and therefore, it is not closed.

But Barca are now focused on assembling a squad to compete with an Mbappe-led Madrid.

Their top target for that squad is Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland, but Barca know it will be a difficult signing.

In order to sign Haaland, the club would need to sell players, raise money by selling assets like audiovisual content producer Barca Studios and, ultimately, reduce the overall salary expenditure of the squad.

The club is also looking to sign Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie as free agents this summer, which could allow them to spend big on a transfer fee to sign Haaland.