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Why Real Madrid should sign Erling Haaland as Karim Benzema’s successor

According to The Sun, Erling Haaland prefers a move to Real Madrid instead of Manchester United. The Dortmund ace has been on the radar of top clubs since breaking out last season.

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The 20-year-old Norwegian forward started his youth career at Bryne in 2006 and over the next decade, progressed through their youth setup.

In 2015, he was promoted to the first-team and went on to make 16 appearances for them. After two and a half seasons, he signed for Molde FK. He had decent numbers for Molde in 50 games, with 20 goals and 6 assists.

Erling Haaland netted 16 goals in 14 league games for Salzburg before joining Dortmund in January. (Getty Images)
Erling Haaland netted 16 goals in 14 league games for Salzburg before joining Dortmund in January. (Getty Images)

RedBull Salzburg signed him in 2019 and that was where his path to stardom started. In 2019, Haaland broke onto the scene with a Champions League hat-trick against KRC Genk. Despite playing just 27 games for the side, Haaland had already scored 29 goals and assisted 7 (source – Transfermarkt).

In January this year, he joined Borussia Dortmund. He has continued on his merry way, with 28 goal contributions in 25 games for them. Haaland was a regular part of the Norway youth sides and has 7 senior appearances to date, with 6 goals to his name.

Haaland would be the perfect successor to Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema has been Madrid’s focal point of attack since the day he joined. It has been over a decade and yet the Frenchman looks to be firing on all guns blazing, even until last season. However, time is slowly catching up with the forward.

Real did bring in Luka Jovic to ease the burden on him but the Serbian is yet to show promise. That leaves the club with a task of finding an able successor for Benzema. Enter Erling Haaland.

Dortmund's Norwegian forward Erling Braut Haaland celebrates after scoring during the German first division Bundesliga football match Werder Bremen vs BVB Borussia Dortmund, in Bremen, northern Germany on February 22, 2020. (Getty Images)
Dortmund’s Norwegian forward Erling Braut Haaland celebrates after scoring (Getty Images)

In Haaland, Real Madrid would be getting a long-term solution to their striker problems. He is young and is already showing glimpses of being a world-class attacker. At Madrid, he will have a star-studded cast to support him.

Sure, it would be a daunting step to perform at those levels at the Bernabeu but Haaland looks like a natural goalscorer. No matter the situation, no matter the club, he seems to keep finding the net with ridiculous ease.

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Ever since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Los Blancos have missed a serial goal-getter. The team have had to rely on defensive rigidity to eke out games as compared to steamrolling opposition in the earlier years. Haaland looks like the perfect successor for Real Madrid and it bodes well for the club that the player himself prefers a move there.