this is a good one........
If that clause is true (even if its not club-specific), then it shows Halaand was already thinking of life beyond City. Lets face it - City are hardly a destination club, and one of the European giants will always be more tempting for players who can pretty much choose where they want to go next.
Hopefully the freak Viking man-baby leaves in 2024, as I'm sick of hearing about him already (although I'm sure people said the same about Torres, Suarez and Mo in their first season with us). Despite Halaand's clear talent, I don't think he'll be the difference maker for them in Europe (as they hope he'll be), as it's a completely different competition to the league. They don't have a problem scoring goals in Europe - they have a problem with tactics and mentality under pressure, and Pep has already shown he doesn't yet know how to navigate the competition properly with City (or set his teams up). The only time they've reached the final is when they had an easy route - a group containing Marseille, Olympiakos and Porto, and then Borussia Monchengladbach, Dortmund, and PSG (also serial bottlers) in the knockout stages. Then they bottled the final against Chelsea.
In the other years under Guardiola they've been comprehensively outplayed and knocked out by us 5-1 on aggregate, and knocked out by teams like Lyon, Spurs and Monaco (who you possibly wouldn't expect to even get past the group stages). They might well be flat track bullies in the premier league (against anyone but us), and regularly do well in domestic cups against piss easy opposition (except for last year...), but Europe is totally different (and they only beat us in the league cup final in 2016 because Jurgen hadn't yet built his team). They are serial bottlers and mentality midgets in the CL and I don't see that changing - even with Haaland.
Next summer will be 15 years since Guardiola took over at Barcelona, and he's won only 2 CL trophies in that time - the last one as far back as 2011. It took Bob Paisley 4 seasons to match that achievement (and only another 3 seasons to better it).
They've collectively shit themselves in Europe on so many occasions, and when up against any opposition that are better than the teams they play every week, they suddenly don't look as good. Even average European teams from the top 5 leagues have shown up City's vulnerabilities, by simply being far more brave over a two leg knockout tie than the majority of PL teams (that usually roll over for them). They'll still get 5-0's against the FC Copenhagens of this world, but then so can all the other top clubs. Let's see how Halaand does in Europe against a Bayern, Real Madrid, or Milan defence (or against us) before worrying about them finally winning a European trophy. The WC fatigue factor will also play a big part on City once the business end of the CL arrives, and hopefully we've turned our form around by then and are also breathing down their necks in the league.
