Many young professional athletes of the highest tier today are often deeply ingrained in the concept of making their “brand.”
It’s a generational difference in attitudes about tribalism and loyalty that came from realising many talented players can have short careers where agents and sport player unions have come to show them that the clubs and even fans at times, don’t often care about the players because of the cut throat nature of the game...
What this means is that the concept of loyalty to clubs, where you come from, etc. does not mean the same as they have been taught from athletes also in other professions and agents, like the NBA who have players who love football, and vice versa (see the London NBA game last year with many big PL players in attendance)...
When he went to Dortmund his father and he were careful and calculating about choosing with Raiola Dortmund over United.
I believe Raiola, Haaland and his father are looking to maximise his brand and likelihood of reaching the top level as a global megastar footballer.
This is why club reputation matters.
Sure, we can overpay and keep things somewhat within the wage structure, somehow, but I am not sure if this will be enough as the truth is playing for City, we are not as known of a club to casual football supporters or non-football fans.
If he’s a different personality than that would be a welcome surprise, but Haaland strikes me as a highly ambitious, “build your brand” oriented player (Neymar, Mbappe, Sancho, Pogba) where going to City now isn’t going to be the best choice for his career, given what I wrote above. Maybe coming back to Manchester later on when he’s older would be a nice feel good story to help his brand going.