Erling Haaland Will 'Fit In Better' At Real Madrid Alongside $208M Star: Lothar Matthaus

Germany great Lothar Matthaus has suggested Borussia Dortmund forward Erling Haaland would "fit in better" at Real Madrid with Kylian Mbappe.

Matthaus is more than convinced that Haaland will leave Dortmund next summer even though he is contracted with the Bundesliga club until 2024.

The 60-year-old Matthaus also sees Haaland as a potential successor of Lewandowski at Bayern Munich but doesn't see them playing together. Hence, the former Bayern midfielder believes the Norwegian star would be better placed at Real Madrid.

"Haaland may end up at Bayern after Lewandowski, but not alongside Lewandowski. That would be a nice scenario, but it wouldn't work. Haaland and Mbappé would fit better at Real Madrid," said the 1990 World Cup winner, Matthaus told Marca in an interview.

Two contenders to win this year’s Ballon d’Or are Bayern’s Lewandowski and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema. Moreover, these two clubs will once again go head to head next summer when Haaland will be up for grabs.

While Haaland has been linked with Real Madrid on a number of occasions, he is also a target of Dortmund’s league rivals Bayern Munich, according to Spanish publication Diario AS.

PSG signed Mbappe at $208 million from Monaco, the second-most expensive signing in the history of professional soccer. The French forward, who has less than a year left on his current PSG deal, has decided to leave the Ligue 1 side and his destination more or less is believed to be Madrid.

While Mbappe has had a slow start to the 2021-22 campaign, scoring only seven goals in 16 matches, Haaland's flying start was cut short by a hip flexor issue. Haaland, who is not expected to play again this year, netted 13 goals and four assists in 10 matches for Dortmund, across all competitions.

Signing both Mbappe and Haaland would be a huge boost for Los Blancos, who are desperately looking to offload veterans like Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale to get rid of their high wage from the club's salary bracket.

Meanwhile, Matthaus, who had two spells with Bayern Munich during his playing career, has also claimed that Real Madrid have lost its personality following the departure of Sergio Ramos.

"Real Madrid have lost their personality without Ramos," Matthaus said, before talking about David Alaba, who has replaced the former captain in Madrid.

"He's a great player, but he doesn't have that same personality. He's not a leader like Ramos," added Matthaus, who served as a soccer manager from 2001 to 2011.