The signing of Erling Haaland is already a success for Manchester City, although the attacker has not even played for his new club. Because with the official announcement of the transfer on Tuesday, the debate in England changed abruptly, which until then had been shaped by the bitter Champions League end of the Citizens in the previous week. Instead of laborious analyzes of whether coach Pep Guardiola could have prevented the collapse at Real Madrid, for example by substituting a defender with a strong header, the discussions are now moving forward – because of the Haaland change.
Thanks to an exit clause in his contract with Borussia Dortmund, Haaland will move to Manchester in the summer – for a rumored, but seemingly absurd 60 million euros, which would officially only be the ninth most expensive acquisition in the city’s history. But whatever the exact amount is and what sums actually flow around the transfer, it doesn’t really matter to City anyway. City has been one of the wealthiest players in world football ever since the club was linked to Abu Dhabi’s money pipeline in 2008 following its takeover by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family.
A well-known striker was already at the top of the shopping list a year ago. At that time, coach Guardiola did not extend the contract with longtime goalscorer Sergio Agüero, 33, who had to end his career due to heart problems. However, City got a rejection from Tottenham Hotspur in 2021 despite a powerful offer for England captain Harry Kane. In response, Guardiola lured attacking all-rounder Jack Grealish (from Aston Villa) for the club’s record fee of €117.5m – a ridiculous price that once again brought the club some ridicule.
City helps with the obligation that the top English competitors cannot bid
Manchester City now seems all the more concerned with emphasizing the generally acceptable spending for Haaland – measured against its performance. The fact that the hands of the English competition were tied helped in the handling of the deal. City’s financially strong city rival United is still in the orientation phase for the new season and will first have to watch in the Champions League. Liverpool FC, City’s worst competitor in the championship, recently hired attacker Luis Díaz. And Chelsea couldn’t bid for Haaland at all – because of the tough sanctions against the still owner Roman Abramovich.
Terrifying trio: Erling Haaland will join Kevin De Bruyne (left) and Phil Foden in the future.
(Photo: Craigh Brough/Reuters)
At City, Haaland will take the vacant position of center forward this season. Therefore, when justifying the transfer, the Norwegian’s enormous goal rate (85 goals in 88 competitive games for Dortmund) is of course in the foreground. But behind closed doors, Haaland is also considered to be a reinforcement for the sometimes unstable city defense. His exceptional power and speed at launch are designed to discourage opposing defenders from going forward. In addition, the 21-year-old increases his physique in the city team, which is noticeably too weak, just with his stature. In particular, Haaland’s size, 1.94 meters, should reduce the susceptibility to standards and crosses – although the header game has not been one of Haaland’s core competencies.
In any case, nobody doubts that he will score plenty of goals for City, given team-mates like Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden. In order to be an appropriate playing partner for his technically skilled offensive colleagues, Haaland will have to improve in passing and combination play – that will probably be the biggest challenge for him at City.
And there is another aspect: while City’s previous players are far more noticeable on the pitch than off it, the club also hopes to gain reputation with fans around the world with the Haaland move. Next to Kylian Mbappé, the most sought-after young striker in the world should generate new City sympathizers and become the marketing face of the club.