Erling Haaland has been playing among the goals at Manchester City, having already netted a staggering 31 goals on 27 games in all competitions. The striker has been an instant hit at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in the summer for a mere £51m. Haaland is being touted as City’s push to finally win the only trophy that has been eluding them, the UEFA Champions League.
However, Erling Haaland is just starting at the Etihad, and rumours have already caught pace that the Norwegian is planning a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid in near future. Although he is contracted with Pep Guardiola’s side until the summer of 2027, reports revealed that he has had a clause inserted in his deal which would allow him to join the Los Blancos at his will. His agent, Rafael Pimenta has further added fuel to the fire by again dropping a hint over the 22-year-old’s future.
Pimenta refuses to deny Real Madrid clause in Erling Haaland’s City contract
Rafael Pimenta who inherited the long and star-studded list of Mino Raiola’s clients following his untimely demise sat with AS for a long interview, wherein she talked about her most coveted client, Erling Haaland. The striker has had a lot of speculation around his future despite only joining Manchester City in the summer. Moreover, what’s more intriguing is that neither the player, nor his agent have attempted to dismiss any rumours or reports.
Speaking to AS, Pimenta was again tight-lipped over Erling Haaland’s future, with his dad, the famous ex-City midfielder Alf-Inge Haaland even claiming that his son could embark on a new journey having already experienced playing in the Bundesliga, and now the Premier League, however only after his work is done here in City. Now, Pimenta told AS:
“Today he [Erling Haaland] is happy at City. Tomorrow, we will have to think about it. It is not positive for a footballer to play one season thinking about the next. This is like you start thinking about your next woman the day you get married. Today, Haaland is married [to City]. I am in favour of freedom. It’s my battle. I always say that one of my priorities as an agent is to offer the player what I call ‘the key to the door’.
“When a player goes to a club, I do everything I can to create the conditions for the key to the door to be in his hands. And if tomorrow you can’t stand being there anymore because you don’t like it, or you’re not paid well, or because your wife wants to live in Paris? Then you leave, right? I don’t like it when my player is not free to decide. I’ve done every contract in this agency for the last 25 years. There wasn’t a single time a player said ‘I want to leave’ and couldn’t do it.
“For me, Haaland is worth 1,000 million. Maybe nobody is going to pay that, but it is the potential that he has when he arrives at a club. With him come fans, goals, sports results, professionalism, digital content, notoriety, sponsors…If you put all this together, his value is an aggregate of many things.
“But the price of a footballer is actually set by a club. I know that nobody is going to pay 700 million for a player, but I am very clear that the value that Erling adds when he arrives at a club is immense, at least 1,000 million. His cap is in a place that is not yet known in football. It is the peak of the modern player. He will go further than those who came before him. For everything, we now know about the human body, training possibilities, nutrition… He will break all records.”
Furthermore, Pimenta refused to deny that Erling Haaland has a clause in his contract which gives Real Madrid the priority to sign him whenever he wishes to leave City. According to The Athletic, there’s a £175.5 million release clause in the striker’s current contract that will take effect starting in the summer of 2024. Many feel that this might be his exit plan to Real Madrid, because the clause is claimed to only apply to clubs outside of England. On quizzed over the same, Pimenta chose to remain tight-lipped a she responded:
“It is difficult to answer this. Misunderstandings are too easy so I prefer not to say anything.”