Erling Haaland’s surprising thoughts on leaving Man City after contract details ‘leaked’
Erling Haaland might want to leave Manchester City if the club gets relegated after being found guilty of 114 out of 115 charges by the Premier League.
On September 25, Manchester City was found guilty of almost all the charges, which could lead to big fines, losing points, or even being kicked out of the Premier League. The club is appealing the decision.
Everyone at the club is now waiting nervously to see what the punishment will be, and many are worried about playing in a lower league.
It seems Haaland doesn’t want to play outside the Premier League, even though he has a contract with City until 2034.
According to Football Insider, Arsenal and Real Madrid have reached out to Haaland’s representatives. The Norwegian star reportedly doesn’t want to stay and help City if they drop to a lower division. Barcelona is also interested in him.
It’s been reported that Haaland and his teammates don’t have a clause in their contracts allowing them to leave if the club gets relegated, which gives City some protection from losing many players.
“There’s a feeling at the Etihad Stadium that Haaland won’t stay to play in the Championship, but the club won’t sell him cheaply,” said Pete O’Rourke from Football Insider. “Several top European clubs are ready to try and sign Haaland if City do go down.”
Haaland is one of City’s top earners, making about £500,000 a week, and he’s scored 169 goals in 205 games since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
City was first accused of breaking financial rules back in February 2023, covering the years 2009 to 2018, during which they won three Premier League titles.
An independent group looked at the case from September to December 2024.
Even with the bad verdict, City’s leaders say the club is innocent and have strong evidence to prove it.
On September 28, City’s CEO Ferran Soriano promised to keep fighting the Premier League, telling many club leaders in Copenhagen, “This process took eight years to get here and will take even longer.”
This followed a long statement on September 26 from City’s chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak. He said the “Premier League process still has more steps to go” and stood firm on the club’s innocence.
He also said, “Many of you have had to answer questions from friends and family since the news came out. I told my family we’re confident we will prove the club’s innocence. I can’t share all details now because of legal confidentiality. Please read the statements we gave before carefully—they still stand true.”
He added, “People have been quick to judge, but nothing has changed. We’ve faced tough times before and came through them. There are many who want to hold us back, but we won’t let that happen.”
For more, check out the details of the charges and reactions from the football world.