Erling Haaland Dortmund 2020-21Getty Images

'Fake news travels quick and far' - Raiola hits back at Haaland reports amid Barcelona and Real Madrid transfer talk

Mino Raiola has hit back at reports regarding Erling Haaland's future on social media.

A whole host of top clubs have been credited with an interest in Haaland, who has enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom since joining Borussia Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg in January 2020.

The striker's father Alf-Inge and Raiola were spotted holding talks with Barcelona and Real Madrid officials last week, and it has been reported that they will also sit down with potential suitors from the Premier League, but the super-agent has moved to try and quash the ongoing speculation.

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What's been said?

Raiola took to Twitter to respond to the transfer rumours, uploading a video of various Haaland-related reports with the word "fake" emblazoned multiple times. The 53-year-old captioned the post with: "Fake news travels quick and far."

What else has Raiola said about Haaland?

Raiola has admitted that he jumped the gun when brokering the deal which saw Haaland join Dortmund, with it his belief that the Norwegian could have fit in at any of Europe's elite clubs after leaving Salzburg.

"Haaland is in front of his own development," he said. "He is ahead of his own schedule. Maybe I was too careful when I said, ‘Oh no, let’s move to Dortmund instead of I-don’t-know-where’.

“This boy - I’m 100 per cent convinced and everybody’s convinced - can move to any club, wherever he wants, already on this level. He could have done that last year."

Why is Haaland in such high demand?

Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane have been as prolific as ever for their respective clubs this season, but Haaland is a far younger prospect with plenty of room still to improve.

The 20-year-old has hit 33 goals in 32 games across all competitions for Dortmund this term, including 21 in the Bundesliga and 10 in the Champions League - four ahead of anyone in else on Europe's biggest stage.

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