Haaland-City, a “yes” of 29 million a year. But the feeling with Pep is not taken for granted

Pep Guardiola’s silence is worth more than assent. Erling Haaland’s transfer to Manchester City is now considered complete. So the Norwegian goalscorer preferred the Premier League rather than go along with the flattery of Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid or PSG. It is a choice that the player, his family and Mino Raiola have reflected on for a long time. Also because the ball was exclusively in their hands, considering that Borussia Dortmund had agreed the conditions of the sale in good time. So much so that Manchester City now pays “just” 75 million euros to the German club. Without this clause, the market could now have opened an auction for almost double the amount. On the other hand, Haaland receives a net salary of 29 million per year. Just to be clear Mbappé (upon expiry of the contract) does not earn much more. Of course, this new contract is complex, with many bonuses and ancillary clauses. On this front, for now, the veil of privacy holds. There will be time to deepen and discover the inevitable background.

Intermediate stage

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Because, let’s be clear, in Haaland’s career up to now nothing has happened by chance. Exemplary in this regard is the move to Borussia Dortmund. By the time he left Salzburg, Erling had already attracted the curiosity of the greats of Europe: including Juve. But at that moment, on the threshold of 20 years, he was looking for an intermediate experience. And that’s exactly how it went in Dortmund: a starting shirt, goals at will, but without the obligation to win at all costs. Instead he will land at the Etihad with the label of the protagonist. And not only for the salary of number one … In this regard it should be remembered that last summer Begiristain, the transfer man of the City, came to offer 120 million to Tottenham for Harry Kane. And since then the box of number 9 has remained empty. That hundred million spent on Grealish were useless, but he had been put into the account: the former Aston Villa is not a striker.

Pep and the center forward

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So Haaland has a great responsibility to solve the goal problem for the demanding Catalan coach. In this respect, there is a famous precedent that Raiola cannot have overlooked. In that summer of 2009 Guardiola attempted the tactical triple somersault: abandoning the false nueve (trademark of his Barcelona) to join Zlatan Ibrahimovic with the star Messi. A miserably failed experiment, as we all know. Since then, Pep has always had controversial technical relations with his strikers. Do not be surprised, then, if in this promise of marriage a few paragraphs have been dedicated precisely to the technical-tactical relationships between the bionic bomber and the gambling vate. An alchemy to be discovered. There is no denying it, a fascinating challenge.