Erling Haaland has been urged to leave Manchester City and head to Real Madrid by a former Bernabeu star.
Haaland, who is the son of former Leeds United and Manchester City player Alf-Inge Haaland, first rose to prominence as an 18-year-old when he scored 9 goals in a FIFA U-20 World Cup match as Norway pummeled Honduras 12-0 in May 2019.
The call for Haaland to leave comes after the champions entered day three of their hearing, investigating 115 alleged breaches of financial conduct between 2009 and 2018. City have strongly denied these allegations, but if found guilty, punishment could be severe – ranging from point deductions to fines and even potential expulsion from the Premier League.
Despite the off-field drama that has lingered for a while now, City have made a strong start to the season, sitting at the top of the league thanks to four straight wins to begin the new season. Haaland’s sparkling form – two Premier League hat-tricks already – has been a major part of City’s success.
His performances have led to a rise in the demand for Man City tickets and that trend is expected to continue between now and the end of the current campaign.
Haaland wanted in Madrid
Tied to Etihad until 2027, Haaland is still a target for Real Madrid, with club icon Guti publicly declaring his wish for Madrid to snap up the striker. Speaking on Monday, Guti said: “I would bring Haaland to Real Madrid.
“He’s been outstanding for a few years now and I just hope he’s Florentino’s [Perez] next target. It would be very good for our football.”
Well, this is not the first time Guti has openly declared his need for Haaland in a Madrid jersey; he first spoke publicly in May 2022 about the forward before the Norwegian left Dortmund for Manchester.
Guti said at the time: “Vinicius, Benzema, Haaland, and Mbappe can play together. If you can have Haaland and Mbappe at Real Madrid, it’s a leap in quality. There is no need to doubt. Real Madrid must do everything they can to sign both Mbappe and Haaland. If they don’t sign Haaland now, they never will.”
Since then, Madrid have captured Mbappe, while Benzema has left the club but Haaland is still very much happy at Manchester City.
Back in May, the Norwegian goal machine remained coy about his long-term future, even though his current deal with City doesn’t expire for another three years.
Haaland said in May: “I’m really happy, especially with the people that I’m surrounded with the manager, the directors, the board, they are a group of amazing people and I’m really happy, I have to say.
“If I say this now it’s probably going to be a massive headline tomorrow you never know what the future brings. But I’m happy. You can write this but you also have to write everything I said before! I’m happy.”
Guardiola speaks glowingly about Haaland
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is fond of praising his players and he did just that after Haaland struck a hat-trick against Ipswich Town in the Premier League back in August.
“I said a few weeks ago he feels better than previous seasons,” said Guardiola following the victory at Etihad Stadium.
“I remember he said before he was still tired, but this season with no Euros he arrived well. Of course, he cannot play all the games until the end of the season but you know how important he is, scoring so many goals.”
Haaland has claimed the Premier League’s top scorer award in each of his two seasons so far in England.
He hit an incredible 36 goals in the 2022-23 campaign and 27 last term. The latter was still five more than anyone else, despite missing several games through injury.
“The numbers are ridiculous,” said Guardiola. He can compete in terms of goals with Ronaldo and Messi. It is an incredible strength for us and we are very happy to have him, hopefully, he can be here for many, many years.”
Weeks later, Guardiola said Erling Haaland is in the best form of his Manchester City career and praised the striker’s character after he scored twice against Brentford despite dealing with the death of a close personal friend in the build-up to the game.
Haaland decided to start against Brentford on Saturday following the death of family friend Ivar Eggja.
The 24-year-old scored both goals as City came from behind to win 2-1 to reach nine goals in just four games to start the season.
“I’d say the best [form] but just four fixtures, not many games,” Guardiola told a post-match news conference. “I didn’t ask if he’s ready. If he wasn’t ready he would come to me. He’s an incredible weapon. Of course, it’s been tough. We try to take care of everyone here and if someone has problems we stay close.
“You have to be strong. Maybe for 90 minutes forget your personal life if life punches you in the face.”
Haaland’s two goals at the Etihad came after Yoane Wissa had given Brentford the lead after just 22 seconds.
Haaland’s incredible numbers
Following his impressive displays for Dortmund, on May 10, 2022, Manchester City swooped in and announced that they had activated his release clause of £51.2 million and Haaland would be joining on a five-year deal.
Haaland scored 9 goals in his first 5 Premier League games including back-to-back hat-tricks against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest. He ended his debut season by breaking the English record for most goals in a Premier League season as he bagged 36 goals in the Premier League and 12 goals in the UEFA Champions League as Manchester City won.
The big Norwegian ended the season with 52 goals in 53 appearances. He won both the English Golden Boot and the European Golden Boot and was voted second in the 2023 Ballon d’Or.
Haaland’s eight premier league hat-trick in 70 games is only four shy of City’s legend Sergio Aguero who scored twelve in 275 games. He has 72 goals in 70 premier league games and 99 goals in 104 games overall for Manchester City. These numbers are simply extraordinary.