Erling Haaland

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itisrising said:
Where do we stand compared to other clubs? We play in the most lucrative league, one of the richest clubs, the most consistent team in the PL for a decade, have historically in that period scored the most goals and created the most chances and have the best manager in world football.

I think you're underplaying us. Messi trying to force a move to City should be indication enough that we have a chance at landing any player in world football.
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We’ve been great at attracting up and coming players who have potential but The fact we have not signed a marquee player when we’ve heard for years “City have been open to signing the right big player” sounds great, but is also a nice coded way of trying not to show one’s hand and how hard it has been for us to break away from “overpaying” as we have in the past.

Yes, we are not exactly Arsenal or Spurs but when I hear chatter about say Mbappe from not just Liverpool fan boys I hear them mentioned along side Real Madrid and only because they lack the cash, allegedly. I heard that uttered days ago on another respected podcast by a respectable Spanish journalist. This is the same Mbappe we have wanted for years.

We passed on Pogba and other at the time big names trying to break away from the “overpay” reputation that now haunts Utd, and it has benefited us but we also don’t like to give in to demands of clubs and agents.

That strategy, whilst intelligent in many ways, allows us to get certain players but when you want the TOP targets in Europe like RM and Barca, and even say Juve or Bayern, their reputations are higher than ours. Even though they have less money to spend their fan base and following is larger AND because they are not in as cash a rich leagues they can pay LESS than we can and that is fine.

So, even though Haaland has a nicely priced release clause you can confindently say Raiola - who has openly criticized Pep yet also offered us Pogba - will put Haaaland’s wages at such a high rate for City to sign him if we want to “beat” RM and Barca that it could throw off the wage structure.

Even if we COULD sign him and give what Raiola wants there might be serious concern that this is a short term stay and he will be off in 2-3 seasons when RM and Barca get their finances together. Could City say that’s a good deal? Perhaps, but I don’t think we want to seem to be a feeder club.

I think RM/Barca will find a way to get the cash as I suspect Messi off the books is an easy one for Barca - and looking like PSG if we pass). There is also Bayern who will pay less, yes, but that’s how it is.

The bottom line is for as great as we are in England and PL followers, outside of more serious football fans who pay attention, we are not as big. When I say I am a City supporter I often get “United” as the assumption. The biggest players with the largest egos and agents are all about BRANDING and marketing.

Aguero was a unique star signing because he doesn’t have that kind of personality. None of our players have much of that type of personality except maybe Mahrez. Sane was the other one and surprise, he’s gone. (Btw, same issues Sane had with us I hear he is having now at Bayern and they are not happy with his work rate/defending). Pep doesn’t like to take players like that because look what happened with Ibrahimavic.

Haaland strikes me as THAT type of player. Very ambitious, flamboyant and arrogant which is interestingly a necessary quality to be the best on some level.

Messi wants to come because of Pep and the Barca links. Not because of City on its own. Messi also has the reputation already. Haaaland does not. Going to us is a downgrade IMHO for his brand compared to RM or Barca, from that perspective even if the PL is the most popular league. It’s always about CL and global exposure. Signing Messi can be a good deal for us long term even if it hurts in the short if we get him at the level that helps build the clubs brand and he performs well enough, which in turn eventually leads to getting bigger players.

We have won no Champions League so we can’t get most of the best players unless we overpay in some way and we also risk losing that player to higher reputation clubs. That’s how the game has worked for a long time.

We’ve moved up considerably and Pep has helped tremendously, but I’m not so confident it means Haaland is likely at all even if we may be able to sign him. Txiki, Soriano and Khaldoon have to consider if it’s worth the risk to overpay, which I suspect we may have to and I can see them deciding to be more measured in the transfer market and not so reactive as some feel we have been.
 
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PrezIke said:
We’ve been great at attracting up and coming players who have potential but The fact we have not signed a marquee player when we’ve heard for years “City have been open to signing the right big player” sounds great, but is also a nice coded way of trying not to show one’s hand and how hard it has been for us to break away from “overpaying” as we have in the past.

Yes, we are not exactly Arsenal or Spurs but when I hear chatter about say Mbappe from not just Liverpool fan boys I hear them mentioned along side Real Madrid and only because they lack the cash, allegedly. I heard that uttered days ago on another respected podcast by a respectable Spanish journalist. This is the same Mbappe we have wanted for years.

We passed on Pogba and other at the time big names trying to break away from the “overpay” reputation that now haunts Utd, and it has benefited us but we also don’t like to give in to demands of clubs and agents.

That strategy, whilst intelligent in many ways, allows us to get certain players but when you want the TOP targets in Europe like RM and Barca, and even say Juve or Bayern, their reputations are higher than ours. Even though they have less money to spend their fan base and following is larger AND because they are not in as cash a rich leagues they can pay LESS than we can and that is fine.

So, even though Haaland has a nicely priced release clause you can confindently say Raiola - who has openly criticized Pep yet also offered us Pogba - will put Haaaland’s wages at such a high rate for City to sign him if we want to “beat” RM and Barca that it could throw off the wage structure.

Even if we COULD sign him and give what Raiola wants there might be serious concern that this is a short term stay and he will be off in 2-3 seasons when RM and Barca get their finances together. Could City say that’s a good deal? Perhaps, but I don’t think we want to seem to be a feeder club.

I think RM/Barca will find a way to get the cash as I suspect Messi off the books is an easy one for Barca - and looking like PSG if we pass). There is also Bayern who will pay less, yes, but that’s how it is.

The bottom line is for as great as we are in England and PL followers, outside of more serious football fans who pay attention, we are not as big. When I say I am a City supporter I often get “United” as the assumption. The biggest players with the largest egos and agents are all about BRANDING and marketing.

Aguero was a unique star signing because he doesn’t have that kind of personality. None of our players have much of that type of personality except maybe Mahrez. Sane was the other one and surprise, he’s gone. (Btw, same issues Sane had with us I hear he is having now at Bayern and they are not happy with his work rate/defending). Pep doesn’t like to take players like that because look what happened with Ibrahimavic.

Haaland strikes me as THAT type of player. Very ambitious, flamboyant and arrogant which is interestingly a necessary quality to be the best on some level.

Messi wants to come because of Pep and the Barca links. Not because of City on its own. Messi also has the reputation already. Haaaland does not. Going to us is a downgrade IMHO for his brand compared to RM or Barca, from that perspective even if the PL is the most popular league. It’s always about CL and global exposure. Signing Messi can be a good deal for us long term even if it hurts in the short if we get him at the level that helps build the clubs brand and he performs well enough, which in turn eventually leads to getting bigger players.

We have won no Champions League so we can’t get most of the best players unless we overpay in some way and we also risk losing that player to higher reputation clubs. That’s how the game has worked for a long time.

We’ve moved up considerably and Pep has helped tremendously, but I’m not so confident it means Haaland is likely at all even if we may be able to sign him. Txiki, Soriano and Khaldoon have to consider if it’s worth the risk to overpay, which I suspect we may have to and I can see them deciding to be more measured in the transfer market and not so reactive as some feel we have been.
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I agree with some of your points and don't with others.

We haven't signed a marquee player ala Neymar, Mbappe etc because of the fees attached to those deals. It isn't reputation that got those deals done, it was the fees. Neymar, Mbappe, Felix, Pogba, Ronaldo etc all moved for more than our record fee and it wasn't a case of rejecting us due to our reputation.

Raiola will not ask for a wage that ruins our structure. Our top earner is KDB and, given his new deal, will likely exceed 350k, a figure Haaland cannot command at any club. The case of Haaland is very unique and it's because of that gives us an advantage. The desire of Haaland has always been to play in England as per his father. He grew up in Leeds, supported them as well as City and Forest and is fluent in the language. Because of that, there is a clear connection to play in England that you don't see in South American players who tend to want the move to RM or Barca. In terms of sporting projects in England that could attract Haaland, it is only Liverpool and ourselves that can truly be viable contenders.

I think you place way too much stock in 'reputation'. The first consideration of any top level player is sporting project. It is the reason Messi wants City, players want the best chance of winning trophies and improving their own legacies and branding henceforth. Liverpool have a much stronger reputation than we do but have never brought in an elite marquee level player. Reputation isn't the reason why, it is to do with the structure of the club and the financial realities that they choose to deal with.

I don't buy into the idea that we'd be some sort of stepping stone for Haaland. Verratti, a Raiola client, has stayed at PSG for years now without any rumours of him leaving. We have never lost a top first team player that we wanted to keep bar Sane. In that case, it was the biggest team in Sane's country and there were reports on how torn Sane was over the move for a long while.
 

Jack is normally one of the sources the club use to put info out there if I recall? So sorta proves we’re deffo interested
 
Well after 100+ pages it's nice to see some concrete interest finally. We'll probably see over the coming weeks and months whether it's related to Aguero's immediate future or if it's just a case of getting him before someone else does.
 
aashayk2003 said:
The fact that Jack Gaughan and Paul Hirst are reporting means that there is definite interest from the club's side. Also the club don't brief this sort of stuff before having some discussions with the player and his agent. Might be an interesting saga in the summer, who knows we might land him.
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I agree. We wouldn’t make a load of noise about it if it wasn’t happening imo. We have a lot of things going for us so I’m confident that if he was to leave we’d have a great chance of getting him
 
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