Manchester City report: Erling Haaland deal will cost City or Real Madrid £250m
The striker will not come cheap despite having a reasonably-priced release clause
A deal for Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland will cost Manchester City or Real Madrid around £250 million in total, according to reports in Germany.
The Norway international looks set to leave the Bundesliga club this summer when his €75 million (£62m) release clause becomes active.
According to German outlet Sport1, City and Real Madrid are the frontrunners for his signature and Barcelona are no longer in the race.
Barca president Joan Laporta suggested as much when he said in an interview that he wouldn’t put the club at risk with any financially burdensome deals.
The German report says that the chances of Haaland staying at Dortmund are very slim, but any deal to sign him will be hugely expensive, coming to around €300m (£250m) overall.
That sum has been calculated by counting up the transfer fee of €75m, a five-year contract worth €175m, and €40-50m worth of commissions and signing-on fees for Haaland’s father Alfie and agent Mino Raiola.
Additionally, the outlet says that the €75m release clause fee could go up to €90m including bonuses.
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It’s an eye-watering sum of money, but Haaland has suggested during his time in Germany that he could be worth every penny.
The 21-year-old has been spectacularly consistent for Dortmund, scoring 80 goals in 82 games in all competitions since joining from Salzburg in January 2020.
That includes 23 goals in 19 Champions League appearances, while this season Haaland has struck 23 times in 23 games in all competitions despite several injury lay-offs.
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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.