Erling Haaland says pressure from Borussia Dortmund to make a decision about his future is proving to be a distraction.
Haaland, who scored twice in the 5-1 Bundesliga win over Freiburg on Friday, has a contract with Dortmund until the summer of 2024, with a £64m release clause
understood to come into effect this summer.
Manchester City are thought to be frontrunners for Haaland’s signature should he decide to move to the Premier League, and the 21-year-old striker indicated ongoing conversations about his future are beginning to weigh on him.
“The last six months, I have chosen not to say anything out of respect for Dortmund,” Haaland told Viaplay.
“But now the club has started to pressure me into making a decision, but all I want to do is to play football.
“But they press me to make a decision now about my future. So that means I have to make a decision soon.
“I have said from the beginning that I want to focus on football, because that is when I am at my best, not when other things come into my mind.
“Now they have put pressure for a while. So it is time to get things started. All I want to do is to play football, but I can’t do that now.”
Analysis: ‘Difficult for Haaland to say no to Guardiola’
Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
I would be very surprised if he stayed at Dortmund past this summer because of this release clause, and because of the kind of clubs who are after him. I think it’s going to be almost impossible for him to say no to some of these clubs who are going to put offers in front of him.
If you’re talking about seeing Haaland in the Premier League, Manchester City are in pole position. We know they’ve been looking for an out-and-out striker for a long time, even though they don’t really need one, and Pep Guardiola says ‘we’re thriving without an out-and-out striker’.
Pep Guardiola is a very demanding manager, you have to play the Pep Guardiola way, and do what he wants you to do. We’ve seen players take a while to adapt to that. Normally players take at least one season to adapt to his way of playing.
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As far as Haaland is concerned, it would not be the easy option to go to Manchester City. Even though he would almost be guaranteed success if he was to go there.
He would be able to move to other clubs where he could score a lot more goals and perhaps not have to work so hard, and the environment wouldn’t be as demanding as it is at Manchester City, and then he could get his move to a Manchester City, Manchester United or Liverpool – or another club in the Premier League – three or four years down the line.
I think it’s going to be difficult for him to say no to Pep Guardiola.
I think somewhere down the line they need to sign a striker, and if you’re going to sign a striker, and are as powerful and successful as City are, why not get the best young striker in the world at a very sensible price.
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