Manchester City's Erling Haaland 'could be football's first £1 billion player'
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland could become the most expensive player in football history, according to his agent
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."
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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."
Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.