Erling Haaland’s agent Rafaela Pimento has once again cautioned that every star player still views Real Madrid as the ‘Dreamland’ team in football. The striker has had a stellar season for his new club Manchester City so far, scoring 27 goals in 24 Premier League outings helping keep Pep Guardiola’s men in the title chase. While the Norwegian moved from Borussia Dortmund last summer, signing a five-year contract with City, his agent has constantly linked him with a move away from the Etihad already.
Although Pimento claimed that the Premier League is the league of choice for most players, even the best teams in the top division cannot compete with the allure of the 14-time Champions League winners Los Blancos. Real Madrid too were keen to sign Erling Haaland from Dortmund last summer, but PSG’s Kylian Mbappe kept them pre-occupied only to reject a move in the eleventh hour.
Pimento claims she has planned out Erling Haaland’s ‘career trajectory’
Erling Haaland has quickly made himself at home at City, where once his father, Alf-Inge Haaland too plied his trade back in his playing days. The striker has apparently followed in his father’s footsteps, rejecting lucrative offers from the likes of Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and PSG. While Real Madrid’s interest too was quite solid in signing Haaland, it is however debated that whether the Los Blancos actually prioritised his signing over Mbappe.
But the ambitious Norway international reportedly hasn’t closed doors on a Real Madrid move, although he has no intentions to leave City in near future. Rumours that Haaland’s City deal has a ‘Real Madrid clause’ in it which would help him move to Santiago Bernabeu at his will and with a smooth transition even made rounds earlier. Pimento has now once again teased a move to Real Madrid for her client, as she told the FT Business of Football summit in London:
“Erling went to City because there was such a history of his family with the club. You’ve seen the pictures of him as a kid wearing a City shirt so it’s only natural he would want to experience what his father experienced. And also of course above that, very much above that, is that he wanted to play for Pep Guardiola.
“But when we have a player, we make plans. Even if the player is 15-years-old. We are planning out his career trajectory. When I started in this business, if I would say to a player ‘I’ll bring you to England’ the first thing they would say would be ‘what did I do wrong? Why don’t you like me?’
“Now, if I ask a player ‘what is your goal?’ he will say the Premier League. He doesn’t say City, Chelsea or Arsenal but the Premier League. This is the place to be for an agent because it is the place the players want to be. It’s a fantastic league. It’s competitive. Every game is a challenge. Everybody wants to watch it. They want to be here.
“But there is the Premier League. And there is Real Madrid. And Real Madrid has something of its own that makes it the Dreamland for the players. Madrid keeps this magic going. It doesn’t have the league competition but it does have the Champions League.”
With his 27 goals in the Premier League, alongside another five in the Champions League and one in the EFL Cup, Erling Haaland total goal-tally for the season so far stands at an astounding 33 in 32 games. Pep Guardiola believes he finally has the weapon in Haaland which could land him his first Champions League title at City. The 22-year-old too has openly stated that he won’t be leaving the defending English champions until he steers them to the continental cup, but City’s failure to do so in near future, would definitely alter the situation.