Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been the star signing of the season. There were doubts whether he could perform in the Premier League after he arrived from Borussia Dortmund to Pep Guardiola’s City. However, the Norwegian has crumbled all the doubters and is on his way to breaking records.
A release clause is an important feature of a player’s contract. Haaland’s agent Rafaela Pimento was very clear on why she insists on her player having a release clause. “When a player goes to a club, I do all I can to create a situation where the key is in their hands,” she told AS.
“If tomorrow you don’t want to be there anymore because you don’t like it, or if they don’t pay you well, or if your wife wants to live in Paris, well, you go, no? I don’t like it when the player has no freedom to decide. I have done all the contracts in this agency in 25 years. All of them. There wasn’t a single time when a player said ‘I want to go’ and they could not do it.”
She made it clear that it should be Haaland who decides his future and not the club. It happened exactly like that when City came calling. Haaland wanted to move to City, a club that his father, Alfe-Hinge Haaland, represented.
If it was in the hands of Dortmund, it is perfectly reasonable to think that they would have asked for an insane amount and maybe the transfer would not go through. However, Pimento insisted on a release clause in Haaland’s contract. Therefore, the Norwegian moved to City smoothly after they paid $65 million to Dortmund.
How did Pep Guardiola’s contract extension affect Erling Haaland’s €200 million release clause?
Haaland’s contract with City was even more complicated. According to The Athletic, Haaland’s €200 million ($215 million) release clause was to come into effect in the summer of 2024. The player had no release clause in his contract for the first two years since signing in the summer of 2022.
However, new revelations have been made since the contract extension of manager Pep Guardiola. A clause in the contract had kept Haaland’s release clause connected to the manager.
According to 90min, data on Haaland’s clause how now changed due to Guardiola’s contract extension. According to the Spanish outlet Sport, this has shifted the release clause activation by a year. This means that Haaland’s release clause will come into play in the summer of 2025. However, according to a few other outlets, Guardiola’s extension meant the complete removal of Haaland’s release clause. We await clarity from official sources on this situation.
Manchester City plan on removing Erling Haaland’s release clause
Considering how happy Haaland is at City now, the club should in no way be worried about his future. However, according to reports, in the case that Haaland’s release clause is still present, City is willing to discuss a new contract that would remove the clause completely.
If serious interest has been shown in Haaland from outside clubs is not something we know of yet. But Haaland is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment. It would not be surprising that some of the top clubs were looking to poach him.
#ManCity are prepared to sit down and discuss a new contract with Erling Haaland. ✍🏻🔵
City are in no way worried about his future. A new contract would not only remove his release clause completely, but also reward #Haaland for his great goalscoring form. 💰
[@GraemeBailey] pic.twitter.com/TsNHJ54AJF
— mancity.fever (@mancityfever_) March 20, 2023
If clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, and Bayern Munich are looking to sign him, the release clause seems like the only way. Because, if it is in City’s hands, they will quote an amount that is unpayable. However, an important thing to note is that the release clause does not apply to any Premier League clubs.