Pep Guardiola's Erling Haaland comments indicate Borussia Dortmund star was in Man City sights a year ago

13.03.2022 - 09:37 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Pep Guardiola will undoubtedly be asked, at the next opportunity, about the fact Manchester City appear to be moving ever closer to a deal for Erling Haaland this summer. His response is entirely predictable - he will sigh and say that he does not speak about players who belong to other clubs and that Haaland remains on Borussia Dortmund’s payroll.

The Blues are firm favourites to secure one of the biggest deals of the summer and bring the 21-year-old goalscoring sensation - who has more goals than appearances in German football - to the Etihad Stadium in the next transfer window. German sources say that an agreement is in place between City and Dortmund, with the Blues ready to trigger the £63million release clause. And Spanish sources say City executives Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano thrashed out personal terms with the player’s representatives over a month ago.

But Real Madrid and Barcelona are not expected to give up without a fight, and nobody at City is counting any chickens before they are hatched. At this time last year, City had their sights set firmly on Harry Kane, who had indicated that he would be able to extricate himself from his Tottenham contract.

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That pursuit ended in failure, but the Blues had already been eyeing up Haaland, and the fact that his release clause would become active this year means they have changed the focus of their pursuit. Guardiola has talked openly about Haaland in the past - but only because he was an opponent when the Blues faced Dortmund in the Champions League quarter-final last season.

City kept Haaland relatively quiet over two legs - he did not score in either game, but it was his hold-up play