Erling Haaland, one of the most prolific and sought-after strikers in the world, will play in the English Premier League next season after Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund reached an agreement.
Months of speculation had surrounded the 21-year-future, old’s with reports of a move to City gaining traction in recent weeks.
“Manchester City can confirm we have achieved an agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of striker Erling Haaland to the club on July 1, 2022,” City said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The transfer is contingent on the club and the player agreeing to terms.”
City will allegedly pay the Norwegian striker’s release clause of 60 million euros (about $63 million), putting an end to the EPL champion’s search for a striker following the departure of record scorer Sergio Agüero last summer.
The news of Haaland’s likely move to the Etihad is concerning for City’s opponents since Pep Guardiola’s team has struggled to find a cutting edge up front this season, despite leading the league.
Since joining Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg in January 2020, Haaland has scored 85 goals in 88 appearances for the club. He had a strong start to his Bundesliga career, scoring a hat-trick on his debut, and rumors about his future move followed him throughout his two-and-a-half-year stay in Germany.
After former City midfielder Alf-Inge Haaland played for the club between 2000 and 2003, the striker will follow in his father’s footsteps.
Haaland was born in Leeds, England, in the year 2000 and grew up in Bryne, Norway, where he played junior football for the local team.
In 2017, he moved to Molde, and two years later, he joined Salzburg, where he scored 29 goals in 27 games, including eight in one Champions League group stage.
In an era when nine-figure price tags are all the rage, the Blues may be thought to be getting quite a deal in Haaland, with £51m being a very tiny cost to be dishing out. That is, however, the clause that was added to his contract when he moved to Dortmund in the winter of 2020, and the pact also includes hidden bonuses and agent fees.
Haaland will earn roughly £400,000 per week, similar to Manchester City’s highest-paid player Kevin De Bruyne, and will be under contract until 2027.
“Erling Haaland is about to transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City,” Dortmund said in a statement. Today, all sides have agreed on the fundamentals. Contractual matters must still be arranged and documented.
“The implementation of the transfer is also subject to proper and timely processing in accordance with the provisions of the FIFA Transfer Matching System (FIFA TMS).
“With the realization of this transfer business, the management expects a positive effect on the key earnings figures (EBITDA, EBIT) for the 2022/2023 financial year in the order of around EUR 35.0 million – 40.0 million.
“Due to the opening of the international FIFA transfer window from July 1, 2022, and, among other things, other regulatory association requirements, the transfer business will not fall into the current 2021/2022 financial year but into the 2022/2023 financial year.”
The Citizens will be hoping to see Haaland hit the ground running when taking on a new challenge in 2022-23, with it hoped that he will shake off the niggling injury issues which have held him back at times this season.
