Erling Haaland in action for Manchester City against Liverpool.

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland ‘could be football’s first £1 billion player’

October 22, 2022 Sports 2 Views

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland could become football’s first £1 billion player, his agent believes.

Haaland has made a spectacular start to his Premier League career, with three hat-tricks already and 20 goals in all competitions for Pep Guardiola’s side.

The 22-year-old Norwegian was signed by City for a cut-price £51.2 million from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, but was allowed to leave for that fee due to a release clause in his contract with the Bundesliga club.

Future transfers are likely to cost buying clubs much more and his agent, Rafaela Pimienta, told Sky Sports: “If you put together his football value, his image value, his sponsor value, it is for sure £1 billion.

“It’s normal to compare Erling with [Kylian] Mbappe, so you have a little bit of an idea of the market – I think Erling would be the first player to achieve a transfer that would be around £1 billion.”

City manager Pep Guardiola recently denied claims that Haaland has a clause allowing him to sign for Real Madrid for a lower fee in 2023-24, but Pimienta would not be drawn on those reports.

“The good and bad of being a lawyer is that you know what you cannot say,” she said. “You don’t need somebody poking you like, ‘don’t say this, don’t say that.’ I cannot talk about it.”

And asked if her client could sign a new contract at City, she said: “I hope so. If they want to discuss today, we’d be happy. Why not? Always good.”