Man City to Haaland: Sign for us now and join Madrid later
Club officials went to Monaco to meet Haaland’s representatives and discuss conditions for the transfer and are willing to agree to them
Manchester City are confident that they can agree a £100 million deal to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund — but Kylian Mbappé holds the key as to whether the prolific Norwegian striker moves to the Etihad this summer.
Club officials went to Monaco to meet Haaland’s representatives and discuss conditions for the transfer and are willing to agree to them.
It is understood that senior executives such as Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, and Omar Berrada, the chief of football operations, were present.
City are ready to meet the £63 million release clause in Haaland’s Dortmund contract. Agent fees plus the signing on clause will take the total for the deal to about £100 million. But first, City must persuade one of the most sought-after players in world football to postpone his dream of playing for Real Madrid.
Haaland has his sights set on being the world’s No 1 player and winning the Ballon d’Or and he knows that can be achieved as long as he is the top dog at the next club he chooses to play for.
The fear for the 21-year-old forward is that he will not hold that position if Mbappé leaves Paris Saint-Germain this summer to play at the Bernabeu.
The France World Cup winner is out of contract in Paris this summer and it has been an open secret that he has an agreement to join Real. PSG, however, and their Qatari owners, are keen to keep their top striker and have basically waved a blank cheque at him to try to persuade him to stay in the French capital.
If Mbappé does join Real, then City believes it strengthens their hand in persuading Haaland to link up with Pep Guardiola’s side this summer.
They are even prepared to say they would not stand in his way if he wanted to leave the Premier League after four or five years and fulfil his ambition of playing for Real then.
The Norwegian loves Spain and Spanish culture and already owns a house there.
Haaland, who has not played for Dortmund since suffering a muscle injury in January has a remarkable scoring record since bursting onto the scene as a teenager.
He has scored 80 goals from 79 appearances for the Bundesliga side and has a career tally of 149 goals from 190 games. Haaland’s father, Alfie, was a City player for three years and the young Haaland was pictured wearing the club’s shirt in his youth.
