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| Erling Haaland of Manchester City faces the media during a press conference at Manchester City Football Academy on March 05, 2024 in Manchester, England. |
Erling Haaland has refused to close the door on a move to Real Madrid in the future despite insisting he is “really happy” at Manchester City.
Real are expected to sign France striker Kylian Mbappé on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain this summer but are long-term admirers of Haaland.
City beat the Madrid giants to sign the Norwegian goal machine from Borussia Dortmund for £51 million in June 2022 but Real’s interest has never gone away.
Asked about the links with Real and whether he felt he had everything he needed at City to remain at the club in the longer-term in the build-up to their Champions League clash against Copenhagen, Haaland said: “I’m really happy, especially with the people that I’m surrounded with – the manager [Pep Guardiola], the directors, the board, they are a group of amazing people and I’m really happy, I have to say.
“If I say this now it’s probably going to be a massive headline … tomorrow you never know what the future brings, but I’m happy. You can write this but you also have to write everything I said before. I’m happy.”
Haaland – who scored his 28th goal of the campaign in City’s 3-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday – also dismissed recent reports from Madrid that he did not like Manchester as a city to live in. “Yeah I enjoy life, I enjoy life with my closest ones and I enjoy it [Manchester]. I don’t know what else to say.”
Haaland’s existing contract with City runs until June 2027 and contains a release clause reputedly worth at least £150m.
Telegraph Sport reported in October how the Premier League and European champions planned to open talks over a new deal for Haaland during the season.
But the 23-year-old refused to be drawn on a possible contract extension by insisting his focus was on winning more trophies with City over the coming months after last season’s extraordinary Treble success.
“My focus mainly now is on the pitch, there’s a lot of games, two days ago was the Manchester derby, now the Champions League [against Copenhagen], Sunday is Liverpool [at Anfield in the Premier League],” he added. “I think I should focus on that. I don’t think I should focus on anything else at the moment.”
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