Why prospect of Barcelona signing Man City star Erling Haaland are now ‘different’ | OneFootball

The prospect of Barcelona signing Erling Haaland is “slightly different” now amid fresh speculation surrounding the Man City striker’s future.

The Citizens won both the FA Cup and League Cup in Pep Guardiola’s final campaign at Man City but the club have not won the Premier League or Champions League in the last two seasons.

That and the departure of Guardiola has led to rumours that Haaland could be considering an exit in the near future, as he joined Man City to win as many trophies as possible.

Haaland has shown how crucial he is to Man City’s success once again this season with six goals in five Premier League and Champions League appearances.

Since joining from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth €60m in 2022, Haaland has scored an astonishing 168 goals in 204 appearances, including 116 in the Premier League.

There have been many links to Barcelona and Real Madrid over the past couple of years but none have materialised into a proper concrete offer.

TEAMtalk recently revealed that both Barcelona and Real Madrid are ‘moving forward with the belief that Erling Haaland could be considering a move’ to Spain in 2027.

And now Football Insider journalist Pete O’Rourke has explained how Haaland’s situation is now “slightly different now” as Barcelona and other clubs circle.

O’Rourke told Football Insider: “(Haaland’s situation) is slightly different now, because he doesn’t have any active release clauses in that contract when he signed the new deal until 2034.

“He’s been on Barca’s wish list for a long time. He’d be a dream signing for the Catalan club as well as they would look to bring in a new number nine to take over from Robert Lewandowski, but getting him out of Manchester City is going to be a totally different prospect due to his contract length, and obviously his price tag as well.”

Haaland has once again been knocking in the goals this season but he had praise for “monster” Man City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for saving them the points in a 1-0 win over Man Utd last weekend.

The Norway international said: “Everyone just fights like never before and it’s amazing to see. We have to be proud because this [performance] gives motivation. This gives an amazing feeling inside all of us.

“And again, this is [the kind of] things we expect from Gigio because he’s one of the best keepers in the world. So then for him to save this is as expected.

“But again, it’s the same as me, before the game, you probably expected me to score a goal and I did; so, I’ve done my job. Everyone’s done their job. Gigio managed to save us in the 95th minute, he’s a monster.”