Haaland’s Dad Just Gave Real Madrid Fans Exactly What They Wanted to Hear

Erling Haaland’s father dropped a line during World Cup warmups that is going to get talked about for a while. Alf-Inge Haaland sat down with DAZN before Norway’s Round of 16 match against Brazil, and when the topic of Real Madrid came up, he didn’t exactly shut it down.

“I don’t want to talk much about elections at other clubs. He is happy at City, he has a long contract… but any player wants to play for Real Madrid,” the elder Haaland said, per Marca.

That last part is the one that matters. Alf-Inge has been a major influence on his son’s career decisions, and he’s not someone who tends to say things by accident.

The Madrid rumor that won’t die

This connection has been bubbling for years now. Every summer there’s some new angle. This time around, presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme claimed during the campaign that he had a deal in place to bring Haaland to the Bernabeu if he won. Haaland’s camp denied that pretty quickly. And Florentino Perez won the election anyway. So that specific path closed.

But the general idea has never gone away. Real Madrid has obvious interest. Haaland has a well-documented love for Spain and Spanish football. He vacations there. He watches La Liga. It’s not hard to connect the dots.

The Vinicius contract situation complicates everything

Right now it’s tough to see how Haaland fits in Madrid’s attack without someone leaving. Kylian Mbappe is there. Vinicius Junior is there. One of them would probably have to go for Haaland to land in the middle of that forward line.

And here’s the thing about Vinicius: he now has less than a year left on his contract. Both sides keep saying they want a new deal. But there have been zero actual negotiations in the last 18 months. That’s a long silence for a player of his caliber. It doesn’t mean he’s leaving. But it also doesn’t mean he’s staying.

For now Haaland is a Manchester City player and he’s under contract for a while. He’s focused on the World Cup and trying to get Norway past Brazil. But his dad just reminded everyone that in football, “happy at his club” and “open to Madrid” are not mutually exclusive things.