Erling Haaland's adventures in Manchester City

Benzema's case is quite 'unusual' because I would pick 34-year old Benzema over any younger version of his, including his Lyon days, any day.

This season, in particular, is in my opinion his best in a Madrid shirt. He's been simply sensational on all levels. This goes of course against any form of logic because you would expect a striker to regress as they age, but Benzema seems to be improving with age which is unprecedented for a number 9.

I do, however, think that he will not be able to keep this up for long. For instance, I'm already convinced that he will not be just as good next season. It is simply unrealistic to expect him to replicate and take this season's form into the next. So we will start seeing glimpses of his regression from next season, but I do think that he'll stay elite for at least the next couple years. After that, it becomes a guessing game and speculation.

Madrid should have his replacement lined up before 2024, which coincidentally happens to be Kane's final year of contract with Spurs. By that time he'll be 30, but he'll have a few elite years left in the tank, enough to give Madrid a brief time window to look for a more permanent replacement.

As for Benzema, I have lost count how many times I wished he would leave Madrid. Now, all I'm thinking about is for him to stay as long as possible and for Madrid to give him a farewell worthy of the legend he is. He won me over in the last couple years and I will surely miss him when he leaves.

Thanks legend!

Haaland to Man C is nice...more toys to play with n mess up by Pep for the CL Some ppl said he might not be suitable for Peps style n if that proves to be so it would be a shame n he'll prolly move on, otherwise glad to see him there.

N could it be that Real miss out on both him n Mbappe? Plsss make that happen. Though they would still have Benz n Vini, which is enough for the league

Fabrizio Romano with more details on the deal:

- Madrid really wanted Haaland, were pushing for the last few months

⁠- Do not believe the stories that Madrid had doubts

- Salaries offered were exactly the same

⁠- Haaland chose City/Pep

⁠- Release clause is actually a lot lower than 75m Euros and closer to 60m euros

- Bayern Munich had multiple meetings with Erling Haalands agents and were pushing to get the player. Player wanted the PL and out Bundesliga

- Injuries were never an issue for Madrid.

⁠- Barca was desperate for Haaland and was trying from last september to get him in. Financially impossible for them though to match Madrid/City/Bayerns offer

⁠- The final verdict is that Haaland CHOSE Manchester City.

Where are my Cule rats? I thought that if Barca wanted him, they could've 'gotten' him

Thimmy wrote:I believe he's only scored 1 goal this year. I watch all of Dortmund's matches, and he's looked uncharacteristically hesitant since his most recent return from injury. His finishing has also been far below his usual standard. I hope that's just a sign of him being careful, and not a longer-term issue.

I've genuinely enjoyed watching him since he arrived at Dortmund, and I don't believe that's bias talking. He rejuvenated my interest in football as a whole, when my interest dropped to the point where I couldn't even bring myself to watch Real Madrid's matches on a regular basis anymore. I've never seen another player quite like him, and the fact that he's an elite performer on top of that makes him all the more interesting to watch. If he can continue on the trajectory that he was on prior to the injury woes he's suffered in recent months, he has limitless potential.

I honestly wish he had picked Arsenal. As much as I know that was unrealistic, I think he'd flourish in a young team with a lot of potential and I can see him really thrive under the style of football that they play. Man City may be his short-term best option for success, with seemingly endless funds, plenty of goalscoring providers and a comparatively broad, robust bench to keep the players relatively fresh throughout a long, league season. but I don't even want to imagine how Pep intends to utilize him in the coming years. Maybe he'll be the sweeper keeper that Pep has been searching high and wide for.

There seems to be this myth that Pep doesn't utilize his strikers well.

Eto'o had his highest league scoring season under Pep, Mandzukic had his highest-scoring season under Pep, Lewa hit his first 40-goal season under Pep, and Aguero was scoring 30 goals a season under Pep despite being injured and sharing game time with Gabriel Jesus. Even Ibra's scoring record was doing good until Messi bitched about not playing in the middle.

Only at Barca did he play his strikers as wingers to accommodate Messi in the middle. Since then I don't recall him doing that in any of his other clubs. Haaland is a 9 and if he ever plays elsewhere I would be shocked.

Either way, he's going to be a much better player under him and he's going to score lots of goals. A lot of his goals have come from making runs in behind against Bundesfodder high lines, but it's not like KDB doesn't get a shitload of assists from the counter either. City isn't like Pep's Barca where they'll halt a counter even if the transition opportunity is there. If Haaland is making a run in space KDB will try to find him. Most of his goals will probably come from situations where the box is packed, but his movement in those areas seems good to me. You'll probably see more tap-ins and fewer 1v1 goals from him.

I also don't think Haaland is an oaf even though he's an incredibly awkward dribbler/runner. Yes, he doesn't have the technical security of someone like Benzema or the passing of Kane, but his hold-up play and link-up play are quite underrated. I've also seen him play some clever passes multiple times that didn't exactly come off, but you could see the vision is there he just lacked the execution. I assume with more training and experience that kind of intricate play will come off more often and he'll be given more credit for that side of his game.

His positioning will be more fixed in that you won't see him drift to the wings or stuff like that, but was that ever his game? If it was Mbappe I could understand the concerns, but Haaland being told to stay in the middle and wait for the ball to arrive to him doesn't seem like a misuse of his talents. My biggest concern with him are his injuries. Marco Rose said a few weeks ago that Haaland was refusing to do an MRI on his ankle.

Kaladin wrote:Where are my Cule rats? I thought that if Barca wanted him, they could've 'gotten' him

Never seen a bigger media push for a player where it was obvious the chances of him going were so low.

Although I can't see Haaland staying at City for long anyways. He's definitely moving to Madrid/Barca in a couple of years.

Casciavit wrote:Fabrizio Romano with more details on the deal:

- Madrid really wanted Haaland, were pushing for the last few months

⁠- Do not believe the stories that Madrid had doubts

- Salaries offered were exactly the same

⁠- Haaland chose City/Pep

⁠- Release clause is actually a lot lower than 75m Euros and closer to 60m euros

- Bayern Munich had multiple meetings with Erling Haalands agents and were pushing to get the player. Player wanted the PL and out Bundesliga

- Injuries were never an issue for Madrid.

⁠- Barca was desperate for Haaland and was trying from last september to get him in. Financially impossible for them though to match Madrid/City/Bayerns offer

⁠- The final verdict is that Haaland CHOSE Manchester City.

Information about Madrid are doubtful.

Marca claims that Madrid hasn't made a single formal bid for Haaland:
https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2022/05/10/627a2b2f268e3e31298b4569.html

If there's an entity that can know for sure whether Madrid made an offer, it would be Marca not Fabrizio and we would all immediately know about it, just like Mbappé last year.

So I'm going go ahead and call BS on that one.

De Bruyne assisting Haaland on the counter is definitely exciting stuff just thinking about it Also Haaland would prolly need to improve his in the box n hold up play since Man C so often box oppositions in for long periods in England vs the lower sides. If he does that n also can head goals he will be great.

Btw how is it his release clause is just 60M? Even 75M is just way too low? Considering example Ferran was 55M just 5M cheaper XD

That was the biggest surprise to me as well. I guess we'll wait and find out when Dortmund comes out with the press release after City activates the release clause.

So despite the release clause being lower than pretty much every single attackers nowadays only City were in the race. There must've been red flags sounding off if no team made any moves for him bar City. Only time will tell if they'd made the right choice

Apparently he also wanted a 150ME release clause inserted in his second season

City doesn't sound like a club players fight to finish their careers in. Haaland will eventually move on and who knows if there'll be any teams available then that need him

Didn't Bayern mention that the numbers discussed were insane?

I sense something dodgy

I wish he doesnt flop at City but if he does the Bundesliga needs to never be officially taken seriously again unless we are discussing Bayern Munich

It's almost official now:

Manchester City can confirm that we have reached an agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of striker Erling Haaland to the Club on 1st July 2022.

The transfer remains subject to the Club finalising terms with the player.

— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 10, 2022

Numbers are alot lower than what's been reported in the media too. Either nobody was actually in for him besides City or he only wanted City and noone else. Either way, good luck to him

Well, I don't know about the other clubs, but Madrid never made a formal bid even though it's pretty well-documented that we were interested.

I think Perez didn't want to go for him because he was put off by the amount of commissions and bonuses involved: https://www.marca.com/en/football/manchester-city/2022/05/10/627a18b9268e3e1c678b457c.html

City don't have to worry about those things because they have a bottomless pit of cash.

Casciavit wrote:

Thimmy wrote:I believe he's only scored 1 goal this year. I watch all of Dortmund's matches, and he's looked uncharacteristically hesitant since his most recent return from injury. His finishing has also been far below his usual standard. I hope that's just a sign of him being careful, and not a longer-term issue.

I've genuinely enjoyed watching him since he arrived at Dortmund, and I don't believe that's bias talking. He rejuvenated my interest in football as a whole, when my interest dropped to the point where I couldn't even bring myself to watch Real Madrid's matches on a regular basis anymore. I've never seen another player quite like him, and the fact that he's an elite performer on top of that makes him all the more interesting to watch. If he can continue on the trajectory that he was on prior to the injury woes he's suffered in recent months, he has limitless potential.

I honestly wish he had picked Arsenal. As much as I know that was unrealistic, I think he'd flourish in a young team with a lot of potential and I can see him really thrive under the style of football that they play. Man City may be his short-term best option for success, with seemingly endless funds, plenty of goalscoring providers and a comparatively broad, robust bench to keep the players relatively fresh throughout a long, league season. but I don't even want to imagine how Pep intends to utilize him in the coming years. Maybe he'll be the sweeper keeper that Pep has been searching high and wide for.

There seems to be this myth that Pep doesn't utilize his strikers well.

Eto'o had his highest league scoring season under Pep, Mandzukic had his highest-scoring season under Pep, Lewa hit his first 40-goal season under Pep, and Aguero was scoring 30 goals a season under Pep despite being injured and sharing game time with Gabriel Jesus. Even Ibra's scoring record was doing good until Messi bitched about not playing in the middle.

Only at Barca did he play his strikers as wingers to accommodate Messi in the middle. Since then I don't recall him doing that in any of his other clubs. Haaland is a 9 and if he ever plays elsewhere I would be shocked.

Oh, I don't think anyone's questioned whether or not his strikers score goals. They're an offensive team with plenty of goal providers, after all. I for one, wouldn't love to see Haaland playing as a false 9 or whatever impulses Pep may have for him strategically. He does have a versatile, physical profile and I imagine Pep would fit him into various roles even if he's a 9 on paper. Of course, I might be worrying about nothing.

Perucho21 wrote:I wish he doesnt flop at City but if he does the Bundesliga needs to never be officially taken seriously again unless we are discussing Bayern Munich

That makes no sense. People claim fraudulence whenever it's convenient to them. Heung Min Son, Roberto Firmino, Thiago Alcantara, Matip and probably plenty more have gone straight from the Bundesliga to the Premier League and teared shit up, yet as soon as a player flops it's banter mode and Bundesfodder.

And that's fine, but let's not pretend that all imports that aren't from Spain or England are duds, because I'm pretty sure I've seen people make the same argument for Eredivisie and Ligue 1 as well, and I like to think that people are aware of how little sense that makes, even if they like to make those claims whenever they see an opportunity to do so

halamadrid2 wrote:Numbers are alot lower than what's been reported in the media too. Either nobody was actually in for him besides City or he only wanted City and noone else. Either way, good luck to him

What are the numbers?

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Well, I don't know about the other clubs, but Madrid never made a formal bid even though it's pretty well-documented that we were interested.

I think Perez didn't want to go for him because he was put off by the amount of commissions and bonuses involved: https://www.marca.com/en/football/manchester-city/2022/05/10/627a18b9268e3e1c678b457c.html

City don't have to worry about those things because they have a bottomless pit of cash.

You guys were willing to pay 200M for a player on the last year of his contract.

Madrid might not be funded by a country so they don't have a bottomless pit of cash, but if Perez wanted to make it work he would've. You aren't broke at all. Money is obviously not the issue here. His release clause was 60M and his reported annual salary is going to be 20M. If you read what Madrid was willing to offer Mbappe then those aren't crazy numbers at all.

Maybe it's the commission fees, as I'm sure Raiola worked out a favorable deal for himself and Haaland's dad. Even then I don't think that would've stopped Perez from signing him. Perez would have loved to have the two biggest talents play for Madrid.

So it's obvious the deal fell through for other reasons. Haaland probably didn't want to share game time with Benzema or the star man spotlight with Mbappe. It makes more sense for him to join City as a stepping stone to the big Spanish clubs anyways. He'll get that PL popularity + develop under Pep + play for an English dynasty where he'll be scoring 40-50 goals a season + will be allowed to leave without being held hostage + will get himself a 50M contract when he does eventually decide to leave.

halamadrid2 wrote:Numbers are alot lower than what's been reported in the media too. Either nobody was actually in for him besides City or he only wanted City and noone else. Either way, good luck to him

I don't think any club pushed for him the way City did. There were reports of them going all out for him since last summer when the Kane moved failed.

The top teams all had top strikers playing for them at that point. The only two teams who didn't have that were City and Barca. Barca wouldn't have been able to afford the one payment release clause or the salary and commission fees.

Haaland choosing not to join PSG or Bayern over league doubts makes sense. Also there's Lewa and MNM over there too. If he joined PSG he would never be allowed to leave either.

So really it came down to City or Madrid as the only true contenders.

Casciavit wrote:

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Well, I don't know about the other clubs, but Madrid never made a formal bid even though it's pretty well-documented that we were interested.

I think Perez didn't want to go for him because he was put off by the amount of commissions and bonuses involved: https://www.marca.com/en/football/manchester-city/2022/05/10/627a18b9268e3e1c678b457c.html

City don't have to worry about those things because they have a bottomless pit of cash.

You guys were willing to pay 200M for a player on the last year of his contract.

Madrid might not be funded by a country so they don't have a bottomless pit of cash, but if Perez wanted to make it work he would've. You aren't broke at all. Money is obviously not the issue here. His release clause was 60M and his reported annual salary is going to be 20M. If you read what Madrid was willing to offer Mbappe then those aren't crazy numbers at all.

Maybe it's the commission fees, as I'm sure Raiola worked out a favorable deal for himself and Haaland's dad. Even then I don't think that would've stopped Perez from signing him. Perez would have loved to have the two biggest talents play for Madrid.

So it's obvious the deal fell through for other reasons. Haaland probably didn't want to share game time with Benzema or the star man spotlight with Mbappe. It makes more sense for him to join City as a stepping stone to the big Spanish clubs anyways. He'll get that PL popularity + develop under Pep + play for an English dynasty where he'll be scoring 40-50 goals a season + will be allowed to leave without being held hostage + will get himself a 50M contract when he does eventually decide to leave.

Madrid is definitely not broke, far from it, but they simply can't compete financially with City and PSG, it's a fact.

In order to bid 200m for Mbappé, Madrid had to go two seasons with no major signings and multiple player sales including Varane, Odegaard, Hakimi and Reguilon.

Also, I kinda feel that Perez was certain PSG was going to turn him down and that's the only reason he made that offer. If he was truly serious about getting Mbappé last year, why wait until the very last days of the transfer window to make an official bid exactly when PSG had no longer enough time left to find a suitable replacement?

Mbappé promised PSG that he wouldn't leave for free and that he would find a club willing to pay a very high price for him. Perez was smart enough to 'fulfill' Mbappé's promise without actually paying it. Now, PSG can't blame Mbappé for leaving for free (assuming he leaves of course).

Myesyats wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:Numbers are alot lower than what's been reported in the media too. Either nobody was actually in for him besides City or he only wanted City and noone else. Either way, good luck to him

What are the numbers?

51M GBP transfer fee + 34 M GBP in commission and will earn similar or just less than DeBruyne

A bargain if you ask me

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/manchester-city-complete-erling-haaland-move-and-fee-is-only-51-million-mn30w8zgg

These agents with their insane commissions, its worst the ibanks n the like, who produces nothing are just taking advantage of the dumb system in place that makes them soooo much money from pretty much doing nothing... ffs... I really think the regulators need to come up with some sort of cap on transfer commissions, they are forcing clubs having to conjour ridiculous amounts of money just to satisfy these greedy pimps in order to get the best players...

Because the transfer fee was so low, Haaland asked Madrid to include a release clause of just $150 million that can be triggered in 2 years. Flo said no and Haaland moved on.

That was the deal breaker per reputed media.

Happy not to be running after this guy for the next couple of years
Welcome Erling  https://t.co/aTdTWTPlmV

— Aymeric Laporte (@Laporte) May 10, 2022

Haaland is such a terrible player man,he genuinely gives me lukaku vibes…ain’t no way they spent a quarter billion on his deal package pic.twitter.com/5UNf5g1Tys

— 7 (@UtdJ4Y) May 9, 2022

sportsczy wrote:Because the transfer fee was so low, Haaland asked Madrid to include a release clause of just $150 million that can be triggered in 2 years.  Flo said no and Haaland moved on.

That was the deal breaker per reputed media.

I would like to know who your reputed media is? Surely it’s not the same sources of your numerous denials of Mbappe coming to Madrid!

I have heard there were several reasons why Madrid never submitted an offer.

1. The interest started as an alternative if they couldn’t get Mbappe. Mbappe always was the number 1 target.

2. No offer was contemplated until the Mbappe deal was secured (which happened in Late January). Then it was an issue of first not doing anything publically until Mbappe could be formally announced. Then it was also a possible compatability issue with Mbappe primarily, but secondly with Benzema.

3. The compatability issue had several takes to it. Mbappe is going to have the top level, on salary level, would Haaland accept that? The current team has a great humble attitude with no player feeling he is better than the rest. They know Mbappe will fit into this atmosphere, but there are doubts with Haaland. Then there are the issues with playing time, positions etc. in a perfect world, it would be best for Haaland to come when Benzema is in decline. Plus there is the possibility that Haaland could be available in a couple of years.

3. Then there is the cost for Haaland, reported all costs is at 350M. That is beyond the sound financial budget philosophy of club. Biggest issue was the agent fees. As with Mbappe, they could possibly offer him a larger percentage of image rights (which Madrid do not announce this publicly) and lower overall costs, but definitely they were not willing to match City. Basically you had Madrid adapt to club if he really wants to come, while player / agent / father wanted highest offer. Can’t really fault either.

It is what it is. Time to move on.