Manchester City will reportedly make handing a new contract to one of their top stars a priority in the coming months.
Manchester City are seeking to not only add new players to their squad this summer, but also tie down some of their current crop who have proven their worth in recent times.
City won the Premier League title once again last month, and there were plenty of contributors.
One man who more than played his part, even though he wasn’t quite as good as he was last season, was Erling Haaland.
And now it has been suggested that City are ready to try and extend his contract…
Manchester City to prioritise Erling Haaland new contract
It has been reported by the Mirror that the club are now looking to tie down Erling Haaland to a new contract, to avoid him being part of a potential exodus next year.
Obviously, Pep Guardiola‘s deal at City expires next summer. And there is a feeling that if he does not extend, then players could follow him out the door. The club want a decision from him by Christmas.
Haaland is a player they want to get signed up to a new contract long before this.
So they have now made that a priority.
Currently, Haaland has a clause active in his contract that would allow him to join an overseas club for £175 million. That clause will now drop each summer for the remaining three years of the player’s contract.
It is not expected that this clause will be triggered by anyone this summer.
City must tie Haaland down
It is encouraging to hear that City are going to prioritise a new contract for Haaland in the coming months.
It is slightly concerning that the release clause he has in his current deal will now start dropping. Ideally, the club will agree a new deal that won’t have that in it.
But the player may only agree to fresh terms if there is a way that makes it fairly doable for another club to snap him up. He likely won’t want to sign a contract that essentially ties him down for many years.
As much as Haaland – who was described recently by Michael Owen as ‘undefendable’ at times – loves City, we know that he is ambitious. He has never hidden this.
City could do with getting the £350,000-a-week Norwegian tied down. But thankfully in the current climate, there aren’t many clubs, if any, who will be able to afford him.