The transfer rumor mill has Erling Haaland’s agent taking his price-driving tour from Spain to England, with the Premier League’s biggest clubs in his sight.
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Chelsea is also being linked with another big striker, a veteran from Serie A, while a well-capped USMNT forward is moving from Germany to the continental United States of America.
Haaland to Chelsea? Haaland to Liverpool? Haaland to Man City?
Erling Haaland’s agent Mino Raiola may meet with any number of Premier League clubs as he ramps up for a bidding war on his young star striker.
Raiola is set to meet with Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester City in the near future, though the Daily Mail says quarantine may stop him from doing it directly after his trip to Spain.
You’ll notice an absence of Manchester United from that list, which can be ready in any of three ways:
- Raiola is plenty familiar with United’s hopes as the agent of Paul Pogba, and ex-United players Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
- Again, though, United’s relationship with Raiola vis a vis Pogba has been anything but copacetic.
- It’s going to happen some other time
Haaland’s transfer preferences have been on a roller coaster ride through the rumor mill, with a maximum of six clubs mooted last month. That number shrunk to just two earlier this week after reports of meetings with Barcelona and Real Madrid were met with talk that Haaland only wanted one of the two Spanish powers.
If the fee is anywhere near as high as rumored, there are only a few clubs who can afford to purchase the game-changer from Dortmund. That said, few players have delivered as much as Haaland at his age.
Haaland has played two matches against PL opposition, scoring one goal against Liverpool while with Red Bull Salzburg. He’ll match up with Man City this week with Borussia Dortmund.
Belotti to Chelsea
Andrea Belotti’s transfer rumor tour of English clubs moves to a second London club as the reportedly unhappy Torino man prepares to enter the last year of his contract.
Belotti was linked to Tottenham earlier this season and Everton before that, but is now said to be a target for Chelsea.
The 27-year-old hasn’t stopped scoring in Serie A, bagging 11 goals to go with six assists for Torino this season.
Belotti’s Torino deal runs through the 2021-22 season.
He has more than 100 goals for Torino since joining from Palermo in 2015, never failing to top double-digit goals in a league season and adding 11 goals in 32 caps for Italy.
Would he make sense at Chelsea? Depends on Thomas Tuchel’s formation plans. Belotti is very, very good but Timo Werner is very much the future and Belotti will want to be the main man wherever he goes and will be in demand.
Wood to Real Salt Lake
Bobby Wood is moving closer to home, signing a pre-contract with Real Salt Lake.
The Hawaii-born Wood, 28, said he’s always wanted to raise his family in the United States, so this was a move coming for a long time.
“Being able to play and raise my family in the U.S. is something that I’ve wanted to do,” said Wood, whose wife is expecting their second daughter to join the two-year-old that is already the apple of his eye. “All of the puzzle pieces fit very well and Real Salt Lake gave me a really good vibe and it felt right. The timing of everything felt very natural.”
Wood has a goal and an assist in 15 matches for 2.Bundesliga promotion candidates Hamburg this season and was not going to accompany the team to the Bundesliga should they make the jump, his contract up on June 30.
Capped 45 times by the USMNT with 13 goals and five assists, Wood has not appeared for the Yanks since Gregg Berhalter took the reins of the program.
Wood is more accomplished than several USMNT strikers to move to MLS from similar positions over the past few years.
- Terrence Boyd’s move from seldom-used striker at Darmstadt to Toronto FC yielded zero goals in 423 minutes
- Andrew Wooten was a killer at Sandhausen but scored just once in 21 matches fro Philadelphia
- Joe Gyau is not a center forward but has largely translated well in his move from Duisburg to FC Cincinnati
Wood should make his mark in a Gyau way, and he does have goals against the Netherlands, Germany, Mexico (x2), and Colombia on his resume.
