Exclusive: What Erling Haaland’s agents have made clear to Man City as Barcelona eye move to sign him next year

Exclusive: What Erling Haaland’s agents have made clear to Man City as Barcelona eye move to sign him next year

Erling Haaland’s representatives have made one thing clear to Manchester City as Barcelona consider a move to sign him in 2025, TBR Football understands.

 

The Norway international has come under a lot of criticism recently for his performances, but he is arguably still the best striker in the world right now.

 

Haaland has scored 31 goals and provided six assists in 39 appearances this season, which is an incredible record.

 

Pep Guardiola is happy with Haaland and so are Manchester City, but clauses included in his contract could open the door for interested clubs like Barcelona when it becomes active in 2025.

 

What Erling Haaland’s agents have made clear to Manchester City as Barcelona eye move

TBR Football understands that Erling Haaland‘s stance on his new contract remains unchanged as Spanish giants Barcelona look at a prospective deal in 2025.

 

TBR sources confirm that Manchester City have been trying to persuade Haaland to sign fresh terms since 2022 – just months after he originally joined the club.

 

City want to reward Haaland with a major pay rise, but in return, they would like the Norwegian to remove release clauses that exist in his deal.

 

Initial clauses had been tied to the future of Pep Guardiola, but when the Spaniard signed his new deal in late 2022, it meant that clauses in Haaland’s contract that could have kicked in from the summer of 2024 were voided.

 

Haaland, though, is more than happy to continue on his current deal. He is more than happy with life in Manchester, which TBR understands his representatives have made clear to City – but they have no intention of taking out the clauses, which the 23-year-old has had in all his deals since leaving Norway with Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund.

 

Indeed, City took advantage of the clause to capture Haaland in 2022. But, they know whilst the clauses remain, in theory, they can’t stop him from leaving come the summer of 2025.

 

And, TBR understands that Haaland is very much in the sights of Barcelona for 2025.

 

TBR can reveal that the Catalan giants are plotting how they could finance a deal for the world’s top striker, but they have hope given by the summer of 2025, they will be back in their newly rebuilt home at Camp Nou, which they hope opens up some huge new financial revenue paths for them.

 

As it stands, they have Polish legend Robert Lewandowski leading their line, but Haaland is seen as the ideal man to replace him.

 

Haaland, though, and his agents – including Rafaela Pimenta – assure City that the clauses in his deal are not there just to facilitate a move but to give him assurances that he has some say in his future.

 

What Erling Haaland’s agent has publicly said about release clauses

Release clauses aren’t very common in the Premier League, but they are present in almost every player’s contract in some other countries.

 

Erling Haaland’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, is one of the best in the business, and she knew what she was doing when she negotiated his Manchester City deal.

 

Speaking about the reasoning behind including release clauses, Pimenta said in an interview with AS in February 2023: “If tomorrow you don’t want to be there anymore because you don’t like it, or if they don’t pay you well, or if your wife wants to live in Paris, well, you go, no?

 

 

 

I don’t like it when the player has no freedom to decide. I have done all the contracts in this agency in 25 years. All of them. There wasn’t a single time when a player said ‘I want to go’ and they could not do it.

 

“For me, Haaland is worth a billion, no one is going to pay that, but it’s the potential that he has when he arrives at a club. He brings with him fans, goals, results, professionalism, digital content, notoriety, sponsors…if you put all that together, his value includes a lot of things.

 

“But, the price of a footballer, in reality, is set by a club. I know that no one is going to pay 700m for one player, but it’s very clear that Erling’s value when he arrives at a club is immense, it’s at least a billion.”