Erling Haaland's agent responds to potential Real Madrid transfer

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 3 Sept 2023 10:03 BST
• 3 min read

Erling Haaland's agent has described a potential transfer to Real Madrid as an 'open door' as Manchester City make him the highest paid player in the Premier League.

Haaland has been linked with a move to Madrid almost since he arrived at Man City in a €60 million transfer last summer.

The Norwegian goal-machine quickly made a mockery of that fee, and is now up to 58 goals from 59 games in all competitions, with 10 assists thrown in for good measure.

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But the forward's father - former Man City midfield enforcer Alfie Haaland - admitted that they had devised a points system for his career that Real had come second in this time, owing in large part to the fact they still had Karim Benzema, a player in his position, on the books.

The Ballon d'Or winner has since left for Al-Ittihad and rumours of a future transfer to the Santiago Bernabeu refuse to go away, and his agent Rafaela Pimenta had done little to dispel them.

Haaland's destiny 'in his hands'

"The open door can mean a lot of things," she replied when pressed on the issue by El Chringuito's Marcos Benito. "Our players can have the feeling that they have their destiny in their hands."

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It comes as City are set to offer Haaland a new contract that will nearly double his wages, from £375,000 a week to £600,000 a week, if he agrees to extend his existing deal beyond its current expiry of 2027.

The figures, as first described by the Daily Star's Harry Pratt, would see Haaland overtake Liverpool's Mohamed Salah as the Premier League's highest paid player.

Pimenta certainly thinks her client is worth it.

"The price of a footballer, in reality, is set by a club," she said previously. "I know that no one is going to pay €700m for one player, but it's very clear that Erling's value when he arrives at a club is immense; it's at least €1 billion."