LONDON: Manchester City announced Tuesday they had reached an agreement to sign star striker Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund — sending an ominous statement of intent to their rivals.
The Norwegian international will move to the Etihad after the Premier League champions agreed to pay his reported 60-million-euro (£51 million, $63 million) release clause.
“Manchester City can confirm we have reached an agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of striker Erling Haaland to the club on 1st July 2022,” the club said in a statement.
“The transfer remains subject to the club finalizing terms with the player.”
The deal for the towering 21-year-old ends City’s long search for a specialist striker to replace record goalscorer Sergio Aguero, who left last year.
The club failed in a high-profile attempt to prise England captain Harry Kane away from Tottenham Hotspur last summer.
Haaland, whose father Alf-Inge played for City from 2000 to 2003, has been sensational since joining Dortmund from RB Salzburg in January 2020, scoring 85 goals in 88 appearances for the German side.
Speculation linking City with Haaland had been gathering momentum in recent weeks, with reports on Monday claiming the player had already undergone a medical.
Manager Pep Guardiola was reluctant to discuss the situation in a press conference on Tuesday to preview Wednesday’s game at Wolves, but all but suggested a deal was imminent.
“Everybody knows the situation, but I should not talk because I do not like to talk about the future, next season,” he said.
“At the same time I should say something, but Borussia Dortmund and Man City told me I’m not allowed to say anything until the deal is completely done, so I cannot talk. I’m sorry. We’ll have time to talk.”
But after Haaland’s in-principle move was announced, City center-back Aymeric Laporte tweeted: “Happy not to be running after this guy for the next couple of years. Welcome Erling.”
City, who are the Premier League’s top-scorers this season with 89 goals, have often played without a recognized striker for the past two seasons.
Riyad Mahrez is their top scorer with 24 goals in all competitions, ahead of Raheem Sterling (16), Kevin De Bruyne (15) and Phil Foden (14).
Guardiola was keen to play down the significance of any one new signing.
He said: “We have a number nine right now. New players always help us try to be a stronger team, but a good defender will not solve our defensive problems and one striker will not resolve the scoring problems that maybe we have.
“We have always been consistent, scoring a lot of goals and conceding few. The stats are there, we are stable in those terms but the club always has to have a vision for the future.
“That’s why with the decisions the club takes, I’m always completely aware and supportive 100 percent.”
City, who lead Liverpool by three points at the top of the Premier League table with three games to go, are closing in on a fourth English league title in five years.
But they suffered a painful exit from the Champions League last week, losing 6-5 on aggregate to semifinal opponents Real Madrid.
For all Guardiola’s success in six years at the Etihad, his inability to conquer Europe is seen as a failure.
Haaland’s predatory instincts could be the missing ingredient to take City’s domestic dominance onto the Champions League stage.
“They have done fantastically well without having a top striker and now they have a top striker so you can only imagine what they will be like now,” former Manchester United and Norway defender Henning Berg told the BBC.
“As a number nine, as a goalscorer you cannot go to a better team because they get the ball in the box so many times.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, speaking before the Haaland deal was announced, said he expected the transfer to set new boundaries.
“I signed a new contract knowing City would not stop developing,” he told Sky Sports. “If Erling Haaland went there he would not weaken them, definitely not.
“I know a lot of people talk about money but this transfer will set new levels, let me say it like this.”
Man City agree to sign Dortmund striker Haaland
https://arab.news/gwngg
Man City agree to sign Dortmund striker Haaland
- The Norwegian international will move to the Etihad after the Premier League champions agreed to pay his reported $63 million release clause
- "The transfer remains subject to the club finalising terms with the player," the club said
Vonn crashes out of Winter Olympics in brutal end to medal dream
- The 41-year-old was just 13 seconds into her run when she lost control
- Skiing legend was aiming to win another medal despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy: Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the Winter Olympics downhill on Sunday, brutally ending the American skiing great’s improbable dream of winning a medal despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
Vonn was just 13 seconds into her run in bright sunshine in Cortina d’Ampezzo when she lost control, twisted in the air and crumpled in the snow.
The 41-year-old’s cries of pain could be heard on the microphones as medical staff attended to the stricken skier on the piste.
Thousands of spectators at the bottom of the run fell silent as they watched the images of the crash on giant screens.
Vonn was eventually strapped into a stretcher and winched into the air by helicopter to be flown to hospital.
Her US teammate Breezy Johnson went on to win the gold medal, but her first thoughts were for Vonn, saying: “My heart goes out to her. I hope it’s not as bad as it looked.”
Johnson finished in front of Germany’s Emma Aicher by just 0.04sec with Italy’s Sofia Goggia taking bronze in front of her home fans.
Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow, who watched the crash on giant screens at the course, said: “That definitely was the last thing we wanted to see.”
Hopes dashed
Just two weeks ago, Vonn, one of global sport’s most recognizable faces, looked in contention to cap a remarkable comeback from retirement by winning the second Olympic gold medal of her career — her last came 16 years ago in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
She had retired in 2019 but returned to the slopes in 2024 after surgery to insert a titanium implant in her right knee to quell persistent pain.
But her Olympic plans were thrown into disarray when she crashed in a World Cup race at Crans Montana, Switzerland, on January 30.
In a press conference once she arrived in Italy, she admitted she had ruptured her ACL in the crash, but insisted she could still compete for medals.
“This is not obviously what I had hoped for.... I know what my chances were before the crash and and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today,” she said then.
“But I know there’s still a chance, and as long as there’s a chance I will try.”
She even batted aside those who doubted her ability to perform with such an injury, taking to social media to fire back at a sports doctor for doubting her ACL tear was as bad as she claimed.
In other action on Sunday, the second full day of the Milan-Cortina Games, Czech snowboarder Zuzana Maderova won gold in the women’s parallel giant slalom after the shock exit of defending champion Ester Ledecka.
Ledecka crashed out in the quarter-finals as the Czech chased what would have been a historic snowboarding title in three consecutive Olympics.
Maderova enjoyed a comfortable victory over Ledecka’s conqueror Sabine Payer, cruising to victory by 0.83sec.
In Tesero, Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo racked up the sixth Olympic gold medal of his career by taking the skiathlon title.
Later, attention will switch the ice rink as the USA go into the final day of the figure skating team event seeking to resist a stiff challenge from Japan.
Ilia Malinin, the US sensation who was upstaged on his Olympic debut on Saturday by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, skates again on Sunday in the free program.
