Club President’s Erling Haaland Transfer Prediction Comes As Mixed News for Real Madrid

It’s 232 club goals in the last six seasons alone for Norway’s No. 9.

Erling Haaland is hugely sought after. | Pedro Porru/MB Media/Getty Images

Erling Haaland will join Real Madrid by 2029 because of the Manchester City striker’s enduring “love” for the club, so says long-serving Borussia Dortmund executive Hans-Joachim Watzke, who worked with Haaland during a formative period of his career.

Haaland has been among the best No. 9s in the world since his breakout with Red Bull Salzburg in 2019, followed by increasingly high-profile transfers to Dortmund (2020) and City (2022).

The Norwegian has a contract in Manchester until 2034 but has been identified by Real Madrid presidential hopeful Enrique Riquelme as a transfer target should the challenger oust Florentino Pérez from office. It is fairly typical for candidates to leverage votes with such promises, although Riquelme’s Haaland pledge has been spectacularly shot down by both his father and his club.

Still, regardless of how Sunday’s Real Madrid ballot unfolds—members will spend June 7 voting in the club’s basketball pavilion—Haaland could ultimately end up in the Spanish capital in the eyes of Watzke. Not this year, but at least within a foreseeable timeframe.

Watzke, Dortmund’s CEO for 20 years until 2025 and now club president, recruited Haaland and has more inside knowledge than most when it comes to the record-breaking striker.

“I know very well what he thinks, and I can say that he certainly admires Real Madrid and would like to play for them in the future, but next season he will continue playing for Manchester City. Without a doubt,” Watzke explained to Spanish publication AS.

“He loves Real Madrid and he doesn’t hide it. I think he’ll be playing there in two or three years, but not that soon. He hasn’t committed to anyone, as his father has said.”

Speaking in March, Haaland’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta told La Sexta off the back of speculative links to Barcelona: “Everything is going very well for him and we really have nothing to discuss about a transfer when everything is so good at City.”

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How Could Real Madrid Sign Erling Haaland?

Haaland reclaimed the Premier League Golden Boot in 2026. | Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images

Part of Riquelme’s claim about signing Haaland rested on the belief that there is a release clause in his contract. Combined with a desire—alleged by the 37-year-old energy mogul—from the player to join Real Madrid, it promised to make the process relatively straightforward.

Manchester City’s denial of any such “contractual clause to enable it” was emphatic. The Premier League side are even “considering legal action for the use of our player image in this context.”

Pimenta, a lawyer by trade who heads up the elite stable of players created by the late Mino Raiola after previously doing the contractual and legal legwork behind the scenes, declared in 2023 that she has never negotiated a player contract without a release clause. But, given City’s statement and an admission from her to ESPN only last month that the club is the toughest she has encountered due to having “no leverage” in negotiations, major doubt has now been cast over that policy.

Signing Haaland without the aid of a triggerable release clause when his contract has eight years to run would be close to impossible without an improbably high—and ultimately implausible—offer.

The only way for any club to sign Haaland would rely on the player himself actively pushing Manchester City to sell. There’s no telling what the state of play will be like in 2028 or 2029, lining up with Watzke’s timeframe, but right now at least, that seems extremely unlikely.

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Real Madrid’s Jürgen Klopp Blow

Riquelme could also be stymied in pursuit of Jürgen Klopp. | Ricardo Moreira/Getty Images

José Mourinho is earmarked to become Real Madrid’s new manager on a three-year contract, but only if Pérez is re-elected. Riquelme’s declared choice is former Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp.

The German is a future target for Paris FC amid employer Red Bull’s minority stake in the ambitious French team. But Watzke, Klopp’s boss for seven years at Borussia Dortmund, considers it a non-starter for the three-time league champion to join Real Madrid this summer.

“We talk a lot,” Watzke stated, underlining the ongoing closeness of the relationship.

“He’s a great coach. He’s always proven that, but now he has no intention of coaching any team. He’s not going to sign for anyone. He’s convinced of that. He knows what he has to do, and coaching any team at the moment isn’t on his mind.”

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