Do Arsenal have a chance of signing Erling Haaland?

There is elite, and then there is the real elite. There are players you herald as special because you like them or they play for your club, as well as those who are special because they truly are special. Arsenal have a few talents well on their way to that level.

What is important in the summer is raising the quality of the squad both in depth and in the starting lineup. Arsenal don’t know if they’re going to be in the Champions League or the Europa League yet, but the additions are vital nonetheless.

Looking at the first XI, the position where you can’t help but let your mind wander to is at centre-forward. Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette will leave. Arsenal need someone.

Names like Victor Osimhen, Gabriel Jesus and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have all been mentioned. There is some serious talent floating about.

Do Arsenal have a chance to sign Erling Haaland? They may be able to offer Champions League football and have agent Odegaard to help them out

Stepping it up a notch, however, haw far can Arsenal’s ambitions stretch? Nobody is kidding themselves over the ability to compete with Bayern Munich and Manchester City et al, but Arsenal is a huge football club, based in a highly desirable part of the world, and with some very wealthy owners.

Could they really make a move for Erling Haaland? Some supporters are letting their imaginations run wild, with the Norwegian link to Martin Odegaard adding to the excitement. The 23-year-old helped fuel the fires:

"“He’s a funny guy, a good guy and he’s a good friend of mine a great players as well of course so we will see what he will do I don’t know,” Odegaard told Stadium Astro.“If he comes to England he needs to come to us of course! I don’t know what he will do but he is a great guy.”"

Then all of sudden pictures crop up on social media of a young Haaland rocking an Arsenal shirt and hope springs eternal. One daren’t even let the mind wander into that territory. Haaland is a brutal centre-forward with otherworldly physical attributes and outrageous ball striking ability. He boasts a farcical number of qualities that are at a world class level. Elite is the appropriate word.

Ignoring his time in Austria and Norway, he has 82 goals and 105 goal involvements overall at Borussia Dortmund in just 86 matches. He’s 21 years old. And, don’t forget, he has a £63m release clause.

But, of course, dreams don’t always become reality. In this particular case that’s because there is zero chance on planet earth that Arsenal will sign Haaland. Absolutely none whatsoever.

Aside from Manchester City being his seemingly inevitable new home, the talk of wages amounting to a preposterous £500k-per-week slams the door shut before it has even opened. How much would everyone’s favourite lovable agent Mino Raiola get? Exactly.

Yes, on paper, there could be elite European football on offer, an exciting project of young footballers to develop alongside, an up and coming coach to learn from, the London high life to soak up, a friend already in place and the No. 9 shirt waiting for his name to be printed on the back.

If only life were that simple.