If you want to find a journalist to fight Real Madrid’s corner, often whatever the situation, then Tomas Roncero is usually your man.
The AS journalist will nearly always see things from a Real Madrid perspective, and often with some bitterness thrown in towards whoever has wronged his club this time.
Thursday’s edition of AS has a column from Roncero, and it focuses on Erling Haaland’s transfer to Manchester City.
Borussia Dortmund’s striker is set to move to the Premier League club this summer, and that’s been confirmed by the English side this week.
Roncero, unsurprisingly, thinks Manchester City is the wrong choice.
He explains Real Madrid sent a message to Haaland, telling his camp that if they wanted a move to the Bernabeu, they would have to be patient and wait until 2023.
That’s because Karim Benzema is still in his pomp, and ‘happy with his Ballon d’Or at 35-years-old’, a transition from the Frenchman to Haaland would have been easier.
However, the Norwegian ‘was in a hurry’ and ‘his father convinced him to take the dough’.
Roncero says: ‘He is wrong. The money won’t give him the Ballon d’Or or the Champions League. In Madrid is where football happiness is achieved.’
Haaland will have to hit the ground running at Manchester City, because there’s clearly people ready to stick the knife in and then wait for an opportunity to twist it.