Real Madrid seemed to be playing a well-thought-out waiting game over Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland, despite making it abundantly clear that they are extremely keen on signing him, Spanish sports publication Marca reported on Wednesday.
Madrid's abovementioned approach towards the much sought after Norwegian youngster came after Barcelona president Joan Laporta recently met his agent Mino Raiola.
While the Catalan side's mounting debt, which now stands in excess of $1.5 billion, is a major hurdle to Haaland's arrival at Camp Nou, Barca's newly-appointed manager, the legendary Xavier Hernandez, is making all efforts to make the deal possible.
Lionel Messi's former club is in desperate need of an attacking forward of Haaland's stature, someone who could fill the void after the departure of the Argentine stalwart to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Unlike Barca, Madrid haven't planned any such meeting with Raiola despite the Norway international stating his desire to join the 13-time Champions League winners last month.
According to the Spanish press, the Los Blancos are keeping a close watch on Haaland's situation, but may not take part in a bidding war, just yet.
Haaland has been linked with a move to reigning Premier League champions Manchester City and Ligue 1 table toppers PSG as well.
And Real's management knows that competing with the likes of City and PSG would not be possible, as they have a much larger purse than the Spaniards have.
The recent history of both these sides shows that their managers, Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino respectively, tend to go all out in their quest to sign a player they really want to have in their team.
Moreover, unlike City that have struggled to find a like-for-like replacement for their former marksman Sergio Aguero, who announced his retirement from the game due to heart problems hours ago, Real have a striker of Karim Benzema's calibre.
With 13 goals in 17 appearances in La Liga, Benzema has played a central role in Madrid's impressive showing in their ongoing campaign.
Apart from this, the club is focused on bringing World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe to the Spanish capital as Ancelotti and his support staff believes that the Frenchman can form a deadly attacking trio alongside Benzema and Vinicius Junior.
In the past one year, speculations have been rife about Mbappe's future with PSG, particularly after he failed to sign the French side's last offer of a contract extension just a couple of months ago.
Mbappe's deal with the Paris-based club expires in May next year and Real are hoping to sign him for nothing, as the 22-year-old footballer will become a free agent at that point.