Manchester City are ready to trigger the 75m euros release clause in Erling Haaland’s contract in a bid to bring him to the Etihad Stadium this summer.
Pep Guardiola’s side have been leading the race to sign Haaland this year and his release clause means Dortmund are resigned to losing the striker this summer.
Dortmund – who play Bayern Munich in Der Klassiker on Saturday, live on Sky Sports – are set to sign Red Bull Salzburg striker Karim Adeyemi as the Norwegian’s replacement.
City’s most serious competition for Haaland during his time at Dortmund has been from Real Madrid, but their priority this summer is to sign Kylian Mbappe as a free agent when his Paris Saint-Germain contract runs out.
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Three balls, three shots, three top-bin strikes – Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland shows he does not miss.
PSG are willing to do whatever it takes to convince the France international to sign a new contract but he still has his heart set on moving to Madrid, even though some people close to him have advised him to stay in Paris.
If Mbappe does leave it will make it even more likely that PSG will try to sign Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich.
Haaland and Mbappe: The new Messi and Ronaldo?
Could Haaland and Mbappe pick up the baton and dominate world football to the extent Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have for the past decade and beyond? Sky Sports’ Gary Neville is not so sure.
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Speaking back in December, Gary Neville thought Manchester City will be ‘very keen’ to sign Erling Haaland this summer.
“I don’t think Haaland and Mbappe can get anywhere near the levels of Ronaldo and Messi,” the former Manchester United defender said.
“Haaland and Mbappe are two young players who are massively talented. They can become the best in the world and achieve great things, but we shouldn’t think every new, young superstar will automatically take over from Ronaldo and Messi, who are the kind of players you’d be lucky to see once every 80 years.
“Players like these aren’t produced every decade.
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French football journalist Jonathan Johnson believes it’s likely Kylian Mbappe will sign a new contract at Paris St-Germain despite ongoing interest from Real Madrid.
“In my time we had Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, the Brazilian Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, world-class players who were absolutely sensational, but even as great as they were, they were not Messi and Ronaldo, who are on another planet.”