Man City interest in Erling Haaland undermined as parties converge to engineer twist
Manchester City’s interest in Erling Haaland looks to have been undermined with a shock twist on the cards, reports would suggest.
Reigning Premier League champions City are in the strongest position of any English side to sign Haaland. They were the only one listed in a report of five offers from around Europe for the 21-year-old striker this week.
Haaland is said to want the guarantee of silverware, which Pep Guardiola has proved he can offer him.
And his father Alf-Inge used to play for the club, so there is a good relationship with the family.
However, as per AS, the same can be said for Hans-Joaquim Watzke and Florentino Perez, the respective presidents of Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid.
The pair have had ‘excellent’ communication for years, and so are now working together on a move which suits them both.
Dortmund have maintained hope that Haaland will stay another season, despite his €75m release clause. Real, meanwhile, want him but are focused on signing Kylian Mbappe on a free this summer.
The Spanish giants also feel Karim Benzema can still play on for a couple more seasons. And there’s not enough room for them all.
Therefore, they want to put the transfer on ice and strike a deal for next year instead.
What’s more, Dortmund’s official sponsor Puma are also keen for Haaland to stay. They are willing to give him a bonus €8m per season.
With him having left Nike earlier this year, Adidas, Real’s sponsor, are also keen to snap him up.
So as well as the battle for his signature, there is also a brand warfare ongoing in the background.
Ultimately, the final decision rests with Haaland. He is set to make it within the next few weeks.
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Meanwhile, Guardiola has insisted there are several areas for City to improve and he never considered the title race over as Liverpool creep up behind them.
City lost to Tottenham last Saturday in a dramatic game that threw the title race wide open. On the same day, Liverpool beat Norwich City before following it up with a midweek win over Leeds to move three points behind the champions.
They had a considerable lead at the top earlier in the season, but now the gap has shrunk. On Saturday, they visit Liverpool’s rivals Everton to try and get back on track.
Guardiola wants his side to focus on one thing at once after reiterating why they did not deserve to beat Tottenham…
READ MORE: Guardiola not surprised by narrowing gap, as Man City boss explains title-race approach
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