by The rich just get richer. Manchester City, which already has what is considered the most talented team in the world, is adding Erling Haaland, arguably the best young player in the game. On Tuesday, City announced that they had reached an agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund to sign the striker. Haaland is seen by many as one of the best strikers in the game and has produced an incredibly prolific career despite being just 21 years old. The move is pending the club finalizing terms with the player, City announced on Tuesday.
Haaland completed his medical with City on Monday and fills a void up front that has plagued the club in recent seasons. Top European clubs including Real Madrid and Barcelona took an interest in the striker as one of the larger transfer dominoes it has been advanced to the opening of the window in June. Haaland is expected to say goodbye to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday after the last game of the season at home against Hertha Berlin.
The Norway international, who burst onto the scene with nine goals in a 2019 U-20 World Cup match, made a name for himself on the European stage with American Jesse Marsch at Red Bull Salzburg before stepping up in Dortmund. At Salzburg he scored 28 goals in 22 games during the half of the 2019-20 season. He moved to Dortmund in January 2020 and scored 16 goals in 18 games. His first full season in Germany saw him find the net 41 times in 41 games, and so far this season he has scored 28 goals in 29 games. In 199 professional club matches he has scored 154 times.
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Haaland was actually born in England, Leeds to be specific, where Marsch, his former manager, now trains. Haaland’s father, Alf-inge Haaland, was playing for Leeds at the time and later moved to Man City.
He joins a team like Pep Guardiola’s who are looking to overcome the bump in the Champions League after coming up short time and time again. Although there are problems in defense, the need for a striker is also clear, despite dominance at the national level. Haaland is arguably the most talented striker they’ve ever had and he’d offer them their first dominant No. 9 since the prime of Sergio Aguero’s career.
Haaland opted for the Manchester City project after a long time of reflection that included his super agent Mino Raiola, who died on April 30, but it was part of the process until the end. Haaland passed the medical examination on Monday in Brussels, and in the next few hours Manchester City will activate the termination clause as written in the agreement with Borussia Dortmund. The termination clause at the end will be closer to 63.3 million dollars (60 million euros) instead of 79.2 million dollars (75 million euros) as previously reported. In addition, Haaland’s team has agreed with Manchester City on a salary that will not go beyond that of Kevin De Bruyne, who is now worth approximately $462,700 a week (375,000 pounds). Haaland will sign a five-year contract until June 2027.
