Much of the conversation when Erling Haaland arrived in England in 2022 centred on how long he would actually stay in the Premier League.
That thinking was fuelled by reports about release clauses in his contract, and particularly by comments such as this from his father, Alfie, in a documentary filmed during the process of choosing his next club.
“He can stay there (at City) for three or four years at the most,” he said on ‘Haaland — the Big Decision’.
It is always hard to tell when a Haaland is joking and after talking to France Football just last month he must have been chuckling to himself.
“He could stay at City for 15 years because he is very comfortable and they are a great club, but I think he wants to prove to himself that he can win in any of the big leagues,” he said.
He then went on to suggest that his son could do three years in the Premier League before moving on to sample footballing life in Italy, Spain or France. And yet here we are: Haaland has signed on at City until 2034, which will, theoretically, take him to 12 years at the Etihad.
(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Haaland will be 34 when this contract expires. The player everybody assumed would one day play for Real Madrid — indeed the player who had previously hoped to one day play for Real Madrid — has now committed his entire career to City.
Maybe he does end up departing sooner than that but with this decision he has not made it easy for himself. There were several clauses in his initial City contract, different ways to get out if he needed or wanted to, but those clauses are no longer there.
It was no secret that Haaland was enthused by the idea of working with Pep Guardiola when he signed for City, and one of those clauses in his first contract was linked to the manager’s future. When Guardiola renewed his deal in November 2022, that clause was removed.
That helped pave the way for Haaland’s new contract, although the understandable complexity of it has meant Guardiola actually signed another new deal, last November, before Haaland formally agreed to this one.
Guardiola is now contracted until 2027, which was when Haaland’s original deal was going to expire. The sheer size of Haaland’s new commitment, then, shows that while he is still very happy working with Guardiola, there is far more to his connection to City.
(Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
Haaland has developed a close relationship with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who himself gets on brilliantly with Guardiola. The club work tirelessly to keep at bay the muscle problems that hindered his time at Borussia Dortmund, ensuring he has the best treatments and nutrition.
For City, a club that always hoped to sign Lionel Messi and which always has an eye on how much money they can make, Haaland is probably the ideal player. Guardiola had always been the star of the show and his influence on and off the pitch as well as in marketing terms is still enormous, but in Haaland, they have an extremely marketable global superstar they can use to sell merchandise and tickets at home and abroad.
It is a perfect match between a club that is always looking to expand into new territories and embrace the latest technologies and a player who is, well, exactly the same. It was his team’s idea to put him into the Clash of Clans mobile (cellphone) game.
And on the pitch, somehow, it continues to work. Given Haaland played a remarkable role in City winning the treble in his first season and then another Premier League title in his second campaign, there can be no real arguments about his value to the team on the pitch.
It has often felt like an uncomfortable match tactically, in the sense that Guardiola spent more than half of that first Haaland season, 2022-23, trying to make the team actually function at its best, having to tweak basically every other department to compensate for somebody who barely gets involved outside the penalty box.
He can be a passenger on his bad days, even before the team’s terrible run at the end of 2024, but Guardiola has never taken him out of the team for tactical reasons in the way he used to with Sergio Aguero, for example.
It should be said that Haaland’s role is the reason he often looks like a passenger. In certain matches, he is instructed to stay up against the centre-backs and keep them busy, creating space for Kevin De Bruyne and others in midfield. With that being the case, he is going to live and die by the service into the area. Sometimes he is asked to get more involved, sometimes he can chase balls over the top, sometimes he has to hold up long balls from the goalkeeper. That shows how versatile he is willing to be, even if it often goes unnoticed.
When things do not work it is tempting to wonder if City, under Guardiola at least, might function that little bit more smoothly if Haaland were to move on, for City to go back to a world of false nines and a million passes, but the landscape has changed completely in the context of this new contract. Everything must be built around Haaland. He will outlast everybody.
Right now, the City story is not as rosy as it usually is at this point of the season. Their mini-resurgence was halted by a 2-2 draw (from 2-0 up with eight minutes to play) at Brentford on Tuesday, a result that called into question whether they have yet emerged from the dire run that resulted in one victory from 13 matches in November and December.
(Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
But Haaland’s new deal suggests he does not have any long-term concerns whatsoever. As confusing as it might be for many that City have been struggling, there is no doubt at the club that they will be much better once players return from injury and the squad is refreshed.
And what of the 115 (actually 129) charges, the eternally mentioned subject when speaking of City’s successes in the Haaland era? The general assumption among football fans has been that the club will be found guilty and heavily punished, but if Haaland is staying not just for a while, but essentially forever, what does that mean for the situation?
GO DEEPER
City vs the Premier League – explaining the 115* charges and how long the case will take
Nobody knows for sure right now, with a verdict expected to be reached in March, but City have always been confident and some with with knowledge of the situation, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, think that the sanction City face will not be more serious than a fine. That remains to be seen but the club’s recent activity in terms of transfers and contract renewals would seem to reflect that feeling. City were not planning to spend much money this month, but the injury situation and their poor form changed all that.
Right now, the club do not appear concerned and that is something rival supporters have started to notice.
Neither the threat of punishment nor the club’s current on-field struggles have prevented Haaland signing on for more. This is one of football’s most remarkable deals in every way.
(Top photo: Demetrius Robinson for The Athletic – Images: Getty Images)
