Borussia Dortmund confident in keeping Haaland, qualifying for Champions League

Borussia Dortmund are unlikely to ever admit defeat in keeping Erling Braut Haaland beyond this season (or next), probably until the very day he signs for Real Madrid or PSG or whomever, but that day is still many, many months away, so BVB can feel quite confident yet.

Still, their sporting director, Michael Zorc seems well aware that if they don’t qualify for next year’s Champions League, that confidence will indeed ring quite hollow. And given that they’re currently six points out of fourth place in the Bundesliga, that’s far from a given right now.

“It is clear that Erling Haaland cannot, does not want to, and will not switch to just any other club after his time at Borussia Dortmund.

“We are very happy that we have Erling here. We continue planning with him. I don’t think he feels uncomfortable at Dortmund. We assume that we will achieve our goal of qualifying for the Champions League in the end.”

-Michael Zorc; source: Inside Futbol

Well, Michael, Haaland’s (super-)agent, Mino Raiola has already proclaimed that only about ten clubs in the entire world could afford Haaland, so obviously he isn’t going to just any club with his next transfer. Meanwhile, the 20-year-old reportedly has his career planned out to a certain degree already, and though that plan apparently doesn’t have Chelsea listed as the next step, Zorc may yet be in for a surprise once he sees where they have BVB listed...

Oh, and as far as a potential going rate, Bild (via Sport Witness) are guessing upwards of €130m — i.e. a new club record transfer for BVB, beating the panicked fee from Barcelona for Ousmane Dembélé in 2017. Find any spare change down the back of the couch today, Roman?