Manchester City confirmed on Tuesday that they’d agreed a deal in principle for Erling Haaland and Fabrizio Romano revealed he had a release clause of €60m (£51.2m) that was triggered, not the €75m (£64m) widely reported. He noted that City will pay the 21-year-old around £375k-per-week/£19.5m-a-year.
But while many are claiming City have landed one of Europe’s most prolific strikers for a bargain, what’s being ignored is the salary over five years, the commission that needs to be paid and the potential bonuses attached to the deal.
Pol Ballus and Paul Hirst of The Times say Haaland’s agent fees and commission will set City back £85.6m, so his wages (£97.5m over five years) on top will bring that total to £183.1m. And that’s not including any goal bonuses or appearance-based bonuses. Haaland may be in line to make more money from the club if he wins trophies too, so City are committing a lot of money to the Norwegian international.
That’s not to say he isn’t worth it, scoring 85 goals with 23 assists in 88 games for Borussia Dortmund, but he’s not a bargain aquisition. Dortmund have made a profit on his sale but not as much as they should have given Haaland’s ability. City are paying most of the money to Haaland and his representatives rather than the club that owned him.
They were careful not to give him more money than De Bruyne too, otherwise they’d likely have to improve the Belgian’s contract.
In other news, journalists say ‘creative’ Man City man was ‘sensational’ v Newcastle