Haaland Follows in Father’s Footsteps
The summer transfer window may not yet have begun, but what seems likely to be the biggest sports news event of the Premier League off season already seems to be taking place.
Having been linked with just about every footballing giant on the planet, the Norwegian phenomenon that is Erling Braut Haaland seems set to sign on the dotted line for Manchester City. The defending Premier League champions having released a statement reading, “Manchester City can confirm we have reached an agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of striker Erling Haaland to the club on July 1 2022.”
The full details of the deal are yet to be released, but City seem to have activated the 21-year old’s €60million (£51.25m) release cause, with personal terms rumoured to see the prolific hitman receive £500,000 per week to pull on the sky-blue shirt at the Etihad. That’s a frightening prospect, and one which will no doubt have football fans and bettors eager to see what he can do. Looking to place a bet on Haaland going goal crazy in Manchester, be sure to check out the best new joiner betting offers.
Why Manchester City?
Whilst other clubs have been linked with Haaland, a quick run through the alleged alternative options quickly leads to the conclusion that Manchester City were in fact always his most likely destination.
With Spanish football under something of a financial cloud; Real Madrid and Barcelona fell down the pecking order; Bayern Munich still have Robert Lewandowski filling the number nine shirt; there’s little room at the inn at a PSG side which already features Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé; Chelsea are in the midst of a takeover; and Manchester United have been a side in decline for the past couple of seasons. Liverpool was a possibility, but the Merseyside club did recently splash out on Luis Diaz and look well stocked in the forward positions.
Other factors may also have been in play with the decision. Born in Leeds, Erling has family ties with City, with his father Alf-Inge Haaland having represented the club between 2000 and 2003. Those possible emotional attachments can’t have hurt City’s chances of securing his coveted signature, but it may simply be a case that this represents the perfect match of club and player, at just the right time.
What are City Getting for Their Money?
Personal terms aside, we would suggest that the club are getting a very good deal indeed. £51.25m is of course a lot of money, but without that release clause being in place, Haaland would surely have fetched at least three times that amount. Neymar cost £198m when making the switch from Barcelona to PSG in 2017, with the Parisian club then shelling out £163m to secure Kylian Mbappé’s services from Monaco in 2018.
So does Haaland belong in the Neymar, Mbappé bracket? He is certainly a different type of player to the PSG duo, but in terms of pure efficiency and ability to affect a football match, the numbers would suggest he is at least their equal.
Quite simply one of the most scintillating talents in the global game, Haaland lit up the Austrian Bundesliga with 29 goals in 27 appearances for RB Salzburg having made the switch from Molde, before snapped up by Borussia Dortmund for €20 million – a price which it quickly became apparent was an absolute bargain.
Scoring a fifteen-minute hattrick on debut for the German club, Haaland never looked back, becoming the youngest ever player to score 50 times in the Bundesliga. Should the transfer go through as expected, he will leave Signal-Iduna Park with a phenomenal record of 85 goals from 88 appearances – with an overall Champion’s League record of 23 goals from 19 appearances, demonstrating his ability do it at the highest level.
Quick, powerful, direct and at 6ft4 a considerable aerial threat, Haaland is quite simply a force of nature and all but impossible to stop. There aren’t too many players around who would improve Pep Guardiola’s outstanding Manchester City outfit, but this natural born goal-scorer is one of them. The rest of the Premier League should likely be afraid…..very afraid.