Reports have emerged that Borussia Dortmund and Erling Haaland have a verbal agreement that the player will remain at the club until 2022 amid interest from Real Madrid and Chelsea.

According to Diario AS, there is no clause in the striker’s contract to allow him to leave the club earlier than that and the arrangement is said to have been at the behest of his agent Mino Raiola, with any deal prior to that summer likely to cost more than €120m.

Norwegian goalscoring sensation Haaland has netted 41 goals this campaign having been prolific for RB Salzburg before moving to Dortmund in January.

Indeed, Haaland has netted 13 goals in just eight starts for the German side whom he joined after reportedly turning down interest from Manchester United.

Football Espana report that Los Blancos are on the lookout for a new striker to help ease the attacking mantle of Karim Benzema, who has been the standout forward for the club since Cristiano Ronaldo departed for Juventus in 2018.

chelsea are equally in the market for a striker to help Tammy Abraham in the club’s attack.

Haaland recently chose Frank Lampard as the former player he would most like as a teammate, which is some compliment for the Chelsea manager.

Lampard is said to be keen to sign the youngster.

According to a front page of Marca last month, Madrid will prioritise signing Haaland this year before moving for Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe in 2021.

Reports in Italy claim Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis has given Dries Mertens one week to either extend his contract with the Partenopei or decide to move on.

Inter have reportedly been trying to lure the Belgium international away from the San Paolo and coach Antonio Conte would welcome Napoli’s joint all-time leading goalscorer to San Siro and pair him with international teammate Romelu Lukaku.

But the 33-year-old, according to Football Italia, is yet to make his mind up and has received a contract offer from the Azzurri, who are losing patience with the veteran.

La Gazzetta dello Sport claims the Partenopei patron has given Mertens an ultimatum to sign the deal within a week, otherwise the club will start planning for a future without him.

Mertens’ current contract in Naples expires on June 30 this year and the forward has been able to discuss terms with possible suitors since January.

Chelsea have been joined by Arsenal in the race to sign Barcelona outcast Neto.

Frank Lampard is said to be interested in signing Barcelona goalkeeper Neto to provide competition for Kepa Arrizabalaga.

As reported by the Express, the Gunners are looking to snare the 30-year-old away from the Catalan giants to provide competition for Bernd Leno.

Despite only keeping eight clean sheets in 30 games, the Germany ace has made a series of impressive saves throughout this term.

Neto was linked with a move to the Emirates last summer as replacement for departing stopper Petr Cech, but the deal was said to have fallen short of the Brazilian’s expectations.

This time round Mikel Arteta will face stiff competition from Chelsea, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Real Betis and AC Milan.

Photo Credit: fcbarcelona.com

Former Manchester United star Nani has revealed why he snubbed a move to Arsenal and Chelsea over a switch to Old Trafford.

He told the Red Devil’s official website: “At that time, I was lucky because I was working with the strongest agents in the world and then we had a connection with a lot of important persons.

“People who were important in Manchester because, at that time, Ronaldo was playing there and had a similar story, you know, playing for Sporting and then Ferguson went to bring him to United. Carlos Queiroz was there as well, he’s Portuguese, so it can help a little bit and I was very excited.

“My agent asked me as there were so many teams to choose from – Chelsea, Arsenal, teams in Italy like Juventus and Inter [Milan]. Bayern [Munich] and [Real] Madrid – I don’t know if they were true but it was in the news.

“I chose Manchester because of the reasons they gave me at that time and everything [about how] the past was involved with me. It gave me the reasons to go there, all my story and beyond that, told me to go to Manchester.

“It was a club where I have a story in the past before I moved to Manchester, when I was a kid, so it was good.”