Erling Haaland’s potential transfer fee soars to £500MILLION after blockbuster contract that also protects Man City
IT was a January present even the most fervent Manchester City fan had not really anticipated.
And no wonder that the news of Erling Haaland’s astonishing new Etihad deal brought a swathe of swift conclusions about what it means for the Norwegian and the club.
For the past few weeks, it has been all about the players City were looking to sign in the January window, with a triple swoop for Frankfurt striker Omar Marmoush, Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov and Palmeiras teenager Vitor Reis in the pipeline.
Yet getting Haaland to effectively commit the rest of his career to City was more than just a coup – it was a huge morale boost for everybody connected to the club.
Rightly so. Haaland’s record of 112 goals in just 126 games for the club is beyond incredible.
In the Prem, it is 79 in 87 appearances, at a rate of 0.91 goals per game.
To put that into even greater context, Alan Shearer scored his record 260 Prem goals in 441 games for Blackburn and Newcastle.
If Haaland continued to score at his current rate, he would break the record after 237 games – before the end of 2029 if he stays fit.
And that would not even be HALF-WAY through the new TEN-YEAR, £260m deal.
No wonder many City fans are already pointing to Haaland’s signature, following on from Pep Guardiola’s renewal, and drawing an obvious conclusion:
They wouldn’t be doing this unless City were absolutely certain the Premier League case into the “115” allegations of financial impropriety (the actual number of charges is now 130) was about to collapse into tiny pieces.
It is not a ridiculous assumption to make, either. At least, not from the outside.
City have, remember, always vehemently denied they did anything wrong.
And unleashed the legal forces of Hell – well, £10,000 an hour Lord Pannick KC and his team – to defend their reputation.
But nobody, except the lawyers involved and the panel of three empowered to hear the evidence given on both sides over the best part of three months before Christmas, REALLY knows what was said in the central London International Dispute Resolution Centre.
What we do know is that if the Prem legal beaks fail to prove their case “on the balance of probabilities”, City will have won a huge and seismic victory.
The authority of the League will have been fractured into tiny pieces.
Yet at this stage, the commission appears to still be considering its verdict.
And before Christmas, there were mutterings that City might be ready to argue that, in the event of a verdict they did not accept, the club would contest the ENTIRE fabric of the Prem financial rules.
But even if the verdict goes AGAINST City, the new deal is a major defensive move for their most potent attacking force.
It is hard, if not inconceivable, to imagine Haaland staying at City if they are actually relegated to the Championship – which would be a MINIMUM demand of rival clubs if the bulk of the charges are proven. Let alone if it was a Rangers-style three division relegation.
Of course, if it was just one season in the Championship – and there is nothing to suggest that is in consideration until the verdict is known – the easiest way out would be to loan Haaland to another club in the City Football Group for a campaign. Girona, possibly, or an MLS year in the Big Apple.
But if Haaland did kick off, City have guaranteed themselves a huge financial buffer.
Tying Haaland to such a long deal – one that would not be permissible under Fifa regulations in some countries, where employment law states contracts cannot last longer than five years – is a statement, unquestionably.
If another club wants to tempt him away – and Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two most obvious potential suitors, probably followed by PSG or the PIF-owned clubs of the Saudi Pro League – they will have to buy out the contract AND pay a massive fee.
That would see a potential £500m transfer demand, a sum few could possibly meet.
At the same time, it is also ringfencing City against the possible outcome of the European Court of Justice ruling over former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Lassana Diarra.
The international players’ union FifPro is among those arguing the end-game will be stars having “free agency” to move clubs, with no transfer fees and only the remaining contract terms needing to be bought out as a compensation move.
Of course, none of that will even be an issue if City’s long-held stance is vindicated.
And the thought of almost another decade of Haaland marauding up and down the Prem will chill the blood of an entire generation of defenders.