Erling Haaland: Pep Guardiola says new Man City contract proves striker trusts club

Haaland’s new deal at City is an “expensive” but “smart” decision from the club, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire.

Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are all out of contract at the end of the season and could leave the club for free, but City were keen to avoid such a situation unfolding with Haaland.

“He [Haaland] is halfway through his original five-year contract and once you get into that last two years the balance of power starts to shift towards the player more than the club, as City would have observed at Liverpool,” Maguire told BBC Sport.

“What they [City] have here is a long-term commitment which protects Haaland’s value in the market.

“I think it’s a smart business decision from City. It’s an expensive decision, but it’s one they could afford.”

Real Madrid, who are keen to sign Alexander-Arnold, have already acquired the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba on free transfers in recent years, and Toni Kroos in the same way in 2014.

Now Haaland’s new deal could put the Norwegian out of reach for the Spanish club.

“There was a very restricted number of alternative clubs to which he could have signed for,” said Maguire.

“One is Real Madrid, but Real Madrid do not need a striker any time soon. You look at their line-up – they have Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr, both of whom are young.

“Barcelona are financially in dire straits, they are very restricted. Paris St-Germain aren’t signing big players because the value of the French TV rights has collapsed. Bayern Munich wouldn’t pay the wages that Haaland is looking for.”