by Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke says that the Bundesliga The side have to ‘fight big clubs with oligarchs and the Arab states’ behind them amid ongoing rumors about the future of Erling Haland.
On Monday it was reported that the Norwegian striker had already passed medical tests as a Manchester City player, according to a transfer expert. Fabricius Romano.
The Premier League champions will trigger the £64m release clause in Haaland’s contract after reaching an agreement on personal terms, which will become official this week.
Erling Haaland to Manchester City, here we come! Haaland has passed medical tests as a new Man City player today, he is back in Dortmund. He will be OFFICIAL this week 🚨🔵 #MCFC
Man City told the BVB board that they will activate the release clause [closer to €60m than €75m] in a few hours. pic.twitter.com/heYobi8S1Y
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 9, 2022
The 21-year-old striker, who has scored 85 goals in 88 appearances in all competitions since joining Dortmund from RB Salzburg in 2019, will sign a five-year deal at the Etihad worth £21m for season.
Haaland’s future at the Westfalenstadion has been under intense speculation for months.
And in a recent interview with CNN, Borussia Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke discussed a number of topics, including the process of dealing with big players leaving the club.
Watzke says “inevitable” transfers like Haaland’s make them much easier to manage.
“That’s the only way for us because when a player performs very well, we have to fight the big, big, big clubs with the oligarchs and the Arab states behind their backs,” he said.
“And we can’t win this fight, but we can win a fight for an 18-year-old player, like Jude Bellingham, because this player loves to play for Borussia Dortmund because we always have 80,000 spectators, it’s a very good atmosphere and the El The club knows how to manage young players.
“That’s our way and, okay, we have a good department that looks for young players every day, but it’s also very important if you have the player here, you have to develop him and I think that works… most of the time, it works. .”
“When a player plays well, we have to fight against the biggest clubs. With the oligarchs and the Arab states behind them. This is a fight we cannot win. We have to do things differently.”
Dortmund CEO Hans Joachim Watzke on Haaland to City. @cnnsport https://t.co/0t6aPzTET4
— Darren Lewis (@MirrorDarren) May 10, 2022
The 62-year-old, a childhood fan of Dortmund, says the club will continue without Haaland, as they did when Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left to find new pastures.
“It’s Erling’s decision,” Watzke said. “Erling, you know, he has an opt-out clause and he has to decide if we want to take this opt-out clause or not and he has time to give us his decision. When the time is right, he will do it.”
“But we [Dortmund] I have played football for 113 years, and for 111 years we played without Erling Haaland. We had Robert Lewandowski and then he left us in 2014, but we played football in ’15, ’16, ’17 until now.
“Then came Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and then Erling Haaland and you can be sure that if Erling makes the decision to leave us, we will find the next one.” [player] 100 percent.”
