'Sure? Can you repeat?' City’s 10-year Haaland deal shocks Guardiola

"To find a player like him is difficult - why not make the effort to keep him"

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City manager

18 Jan 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport

Jamie Jackson

Pep Guardiola was so stunned when learning the length of Erling Haaland’s record new nine-and-a-half-year contract that he asked Txiki Begiristain, Manchester City’s sporting director, to repeat himself.

The 24-year-old’s fresh terms tie him to the champions until 2034 and will earn him a basic salary of about £500,000 a week. It is the longest agreed by a player in domestic competition.

Guardiola does not get involved in contract negotiations and was asked how he reacted to the news from Begiristain. “I said: ‘Can you repeat?’ And he said to me. ‘[10].’ I said: ‘Sure?’ And he said: ‘Yes.’ So, good news. That means a lot.”

Haaland has proved a phenomenon at City, scoring 111 goals in 126 games since signing from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2022. Guardiola was asked if the length of the contract was to ensure he cannot leave in his prime years for no fee. Last summer, Kylian Mbappé signed for Real Madrid on a free transfer from Paris Saint-germain at the age of 25.

“I don’t know the reason,” said Guardiola. “I didn’t ask. I think what happened in this situation, he feels it. He feels that it’s the best for me, my career, playing in this club. It’s no more difficult than that and, of course, he’s a special player.

“To find a player like Erling is so difficult. To find strikers at that level, once we have it, why don’t we make the effort to keep him? The club made a huge effort.”

“It’s the trust for the club [in] Erling. Because you never know what can happen in the next year. But the club knows perfectly how professional he is. His commitment in every single game and every single day to show his talent. And for him, because in 10 years, you never know what’s going to happen – it’s a long time.”

“I am super happy,” said Haaland, who was previously contracted at City until 2027. “I am proud. It is difficult to put into words because it is a big moment.

“I am looking forward to staying here for a long time. Speaking with the people I spoke with, the hunger and the support I have been getting for the last couple of years from the board, from the bosses and from Pep, it was an easy decision.”

Haaland has won two Premier League titles, the FA Cup, the Champions League, the Uefa Super Cup and the Fifa Club World Cup at City. He stated a desire for more and to keep improving.

“Now I can fully focus on getting better because I am going to stay here for such a long time,” he said. “Full focus on performing and getting better to give all of the fans what they want.

“It feels like I signed a moment ago. It has been going really quick and that is a good thing. It means I am enjoying it.”

“For two and a half years as a City player I have been winning loads of trophies, playing loads of good football, having so many great moments together with the whole club and with the fans. I still remember the rainy parade [after the 2023 treble] which was maybe the biggest and best moment because it was a typical Manchester parade. It has been amazing and like a dream in this two and a half years.”

Haaland’s decision is a considerable boost for City in a difficult season for them. They are sixth with 35 points, 12 points behind the leaders, Liverpool, having played a game more. They travel to Ipswich tomorrow.

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Haaland’s mega-deal throws up more questions than answers

Striker signs mammoth contract with Manchester City even though more than 100 charges hang over club

Non-league teams could enjoy the quaint sight of the best-paid footballer at their ground

18 Jan 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport

Jamie Jackson

Erling Haaland’s bumper nine-and-a-half-year record new contract with Manchester City is a coup for the champions and a life-changing deal for the 24-year-old that provokes several intriguing questions.

The thorniest is what occurs if City are relegated should the club be found guilty of the more than 100 charges brought by the Premier League.

The champions deny all the allegations but if they are unsuccessful then, depending on the severity of the verdict, one potential tariff is demotion.

If Haaland does not have a break clause to protect him, fans of Championship or even League One, League Two or non-league teams could enjoy the quaint sight of the best-paid footballer ever to play in England lacing up his boots at their ground.

Except that while football can be surreal at times, picturing the blond, 6ft 4in goalscoring phenomenon trotting out at Plymouth, Lincoln, Doncaster, Altrincham or elsewhere in the pyramid seems a stretch. Career ambition and basic economics would come into play, because should City be relegated, Haaland would be a shoo-in to demand a transfer to an elite club, as many of his teammates – the Ballon d’or winner, Rodri, for one – would too.

Related here is a second question: what happens if City continue at elite level, and Real Madrid, Barcelona or AN Other European aristocrat come calling? It may not happen this or next year. But Haaland is determined to improve, so barring a freak happening the goals will continue

to pile up, his numbers will become ever more epoch-defining and he will, at some juncture, surely have to field an offer the suitor will hope is impossible to refuse.

Depending on the timing, the player could decide he has had enough. Example: despite the riches earned, the trophies accumulated and the memories created, how loyal will Haaland feel if the man he admires so much is no longer piloting City?

Of the perfectionist Pep Guardiola, the Norwegian says: “It is so nice to work with him. Not only because he is the best, but he is also the most hard-working person I have ever seen. People think it is only because of this or that, but the amount of hours he puts down is motivating and inspiring to see.

“It is funny to work with him, it is hard and it is tough because he demands a lot, but that is what I want. I want people to demand a lot from me and to put pressure on me. So far, so good.”

The prospect of Haaland being tempted away formed a key part of the strategic calculations of Khaldoon al-mubarak, the chairman, Ferran Soriano, the chief executive, and Txiki Begiristain, the sporting director, when drawing up the mega-deal. They will have looked at Real’s free acquisition of Kylian Mbappé last summer, after he ran down his contract at Paris Saint-Germain, and determined that their own jewel could not go for free by refusing to renew when his previous deal ended in 2027.

Mubarak, Soriano and Begiristain knew the moment Haaland signed on again until 2034 that the bottom line became this: to prise him away would take a world-record transfer fee for the foreseeable future. The triumvirate will also have calculated how beyond Haaland’s ability to propel City to challenge for further honours, the No 9’s capacity to generate millions in commercial revenue will offset the money needed to pay a lucrative new salary thought to be a basic £500,000 a week and any signing-on fee he may have received.

A last but less-searing question is what occurs if Haaland sustains a prolonged or career-affecting injury. This is the easiest to answer because the club will be insured against having to continue to pay his contract should the player no longer be able to perform.

Haaland’s City CV shows 111 goals in 126 games, 52 of the strikes coming in his first season, as he propelled Guardiola’s team for the ages to the treble of 2022-23, including 36 in the Premier League title triumph. For this campaign Haaland was voted the men’s player of the year by the Professional Footballers’ Association and Football Writers’ Association.

Haaland’s follow-up act was 27 goals in last season’s championship defence, City’s fourth in a row. This term he has 16 in the league and 21 in 28 in all club competitions, and this in a misfiring side struggling to rediscover their imperious best.

Haaland continues to get better. It is bad news for all other clubs and the very best of tidings for City. “I am really confident that we will turn things around,” he says. “Things have been difficult as we are so used to winning games, but also it is a challenge for us. To get this feeling of hunger inside every single one of us to not look at things easier.”

Tying up a generational talent until he is an ageing man, in footballing terms, of 34 is a no-brainer for City. Haaland has just secured his family’s future for many years. What happens next fascinates.

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BIG MONEY, LONG TERMS

Sport’s other mega-contracts

18 Jan 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport

Tony Paley

Football

Lionel Messi Barcelona

Four-year deal, £492m

The Argentinian’s final Barcelona contract, signed in 2017, proved to be his last one as he left the club on a free transfer in 2021.

Cristiano Ronaldo Al-Nassr

Two-and-a-half-year deal, £422m

Portuguese player signed with the Saudi Pro League side in January 2023, becoming the first major European star to switch to Saudi Arabia.

Karim Benzema

Al-Ittihad Three-year deal, £370m

Another who joined the influx of European talent to the Saudi Pro League in the summer of 2023, quitting Real Madrid in the process.

Neymar Al-Hilal

Two-year deal, £86m pa

Played five games for his new Saudi club, before he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament with Brazil in October 2023.

Kylian Mbappé

Paris Saint-Germain

Three-year deal, £61m pa

Earned his huge pay before opting against the further 12 months as the allure of Real Madrid in the summer of 2024 proved too much.

Baseball

Juan Soto New York Mets

15-year deal, £630m

The Dominican caused a storm when he switched from the New York Yankees to their bitter rivals in December, signing the most lucrative deal in sports history.

Shohei Ohtani

Los Angeles Dodgers

10-year deal, £575m

Japanese pitcher, who signed what was then the biggest ever sports contract at the end of the 2023 season, the bulk of which is deferred for a decade.

Mike Trout Los Angeles Angels

12-year deal, £350m

The MLB star signed a new agreement in 2019, with the contract, according to reports, starting in the 2023 season allowing the player to pocket $35.5m a year.

NFL

Patrick Mahomes

Kansas City Chiefs

10-year deal, £370m

Signed his contract extension in 2020, months after the quarterback led his team to a Super Bowl title. Incentives could push that figure as high as £412.5m.

Golf

Jon Rahm

Four-year deal, £386m

The new LIV tour has captured the signings of some of the PGA’S biggest players. None more so than the two-time major winner who sensationally made the switch in 2023.