Barcelona have no chance of signing Erling Haaland after he leaves Manchester City, according to La Liga president Javier Tebas.
Haaland signed a five-year contract when he joined City for £51m last summer, although he has suggested, along with his family, that he would be open to playing in another top league before he retires. That has left the door open for a future sale, and clubs already appear to be lining up to try and make a move if Haaland ever becomes available.
Last month, Barcelona president Joan Laporta claimed his side were monitoring Haaland, even if they were happy at present with striker Robert Lewandowski. However, La Liga chief Tebas has now said only one club in Spain could afford Haaland's overall package of transfer fee and wages.
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"I hear that Haaland's father is saying that after a while at City maybe ... but we'll see how it evolves," Laporta said in January. "For now we're doing our thing, that [Robert] Lewandowski is doing very well."
Speaking this week, Tebas told El Chiringuito that only Real Madrid could sign Haaland or Kylian Mbappe in the near future
"Hopefully it will be like this," he said of the chances of Haaland and Mbappe playing in La Liga in future.
"But these two players could only be at Real Madrid, because the economic situation of FC Barcelona would not allow them to access this type of player. Neither this season nor the next. I see it as impossible."
Barcelona may take hope from Haaland's agent, however, who this week spoke at length of her client's future prospects.
"I always say that Laporta can't ask me for anything in football, it's not fair, because he knows I'm going to say yes," Rafaela Pimenta said, valuing Haaland at £1bn when commercial revenues are accounted for.
"There wasn’t a single time that a player said 'I want to go' and couldn’t do it. My hope is that he is always happy wherever he is. And today he is very happy at City. Tomorrow, we’ll have to think about it.
"It is not positive for a footballer to play one season thinking about the next. It’s like you start thinking about your next woman the day you get married. Today, Haaland is ‘married’ but as a lawyer I have to prepare for the possibility that if you need the key [to the door], you can have it.
"For me, Haaland is worth 1,000 million. Maybe nobody is going to pay that, but he has the potential he has when he arrives at a club. With it come fans, goals, results, professionalism, digital content, notoriety, sponsors... If you put all this together, his value is an aggregate of many things.
"But the price of a footballer is actually set by a club. I know that nobody is going to pay 700 million for a player, but I am very clear that the value that Erling adds when he arrives at a club is immense, at least 1,000 million.
"He’s in a place that is not yet known in football. He is the peak of the modern player. He will go further than those who came before him because of everything we now know about the human body, the training possibilities, nutrition... He will break all records."
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