Dortmund hint Haaland will join Man City, not Madrid
FT Desk
- 30 Mar 2022 15:18 BST
- 3 min read
Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has hinted that Erling Haaland is on his way to Manchester City after accepting that the German club are powerless to stop him moving there.
Haaland is set to leave Dortmund at the end of the season when his €75 million release clause is activated.
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Virtually every top club in Europe is interested in signing the 21-year-old, including Manchester United, Bayern Munich and PSG.
But it is Real Madrid, Man City and Barcelona who have for some time been in the lead for his signature.
FootballTransfers understands that Barcelona have now pulled out of the race, leaving it a two-horse race between Madrid and City.
Watzke says that there have still been no official offers for the striker but appeared to hint that Haaland is on his way to Man City when he namechecked the English club.
What did Watzke say?
"I've given up judging media rumours. Otherwise, my day would have to have 36 hours," Watzke told Sport Bild.
"We don't currently know anything specific from the player side, nor has anyone approached us.
“However, we cannot keep up financially if Manchester City come in for Haaland.”
Watzke added that he is confident that Dortmund will be able to adequately replace Haaland when he leaves this summer.
"We've seen it a few times: we lost [Robert] Lewandowski to Bayern in 2014 and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang to Arsenal in 2018,” he said.
"We've always created a new star. If Haaland leaves, we will find another new talent and develop it into a star, and that will also do the Bundesliga good."
Haaland has enjoyed two brilliant years at Dortmund since joining from Salzburg in January 2020.
He has scored 80 goals in just 82 games for the club, although he has suffered a number of injuries this season.
