Erling Haaland has recently signed a 10-year contract with his club, Manchester City, which will be valid until 2034.
Haaland will be 34 by then and probably will have helped his club to a few more Premier League titles. It is rare for a player to sign a contract with such a long duration, but then, Haaland is no ordinary player.
The 24-year-old Norwegian striker was signed by the Cityzens from Borussia Dortmund in 2022. Since then, the big man has scored 111 goals in 126 matches for the Manchester club, which is a tremendous scoring record.
Erling Haaland’s Good Work Rewarded by Man City Contract
Aside from Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne, Haaland has been the most important player for the Cityzens since he signed for the club.
He scored a whopping 52 goals in his debut season for the club and also won the PFA Player of the Season for 2022-23.
Last season, some injury problems forced the striker to miss a few matches, which reduced his goal-tally to 38.
The Norwegian has scored 22 goals this season already, which is the joint-highest tally in the English top division with Mohamed Salah’s.
Pep Guardiola’s side have been underwhelming this season, but Haaland continues to be excellent, albeit to a lesser extent, going by his very lofty standards.
He scored almost a goal per game for Borussia Dortmund and has a goal-scoring ratio of almost 0.89 for the English champions.
Those are the kind of numbers that could make even a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Lionel Messi proud.
Haaland is a typical No. 9 and a complete antithesis of the false nine made popular by Guardiola’s typical style of passing football.
He has often received criticism for the lack of his link-up play and defensive work, but his ability to score goals is probably second to none in the world at the moment.
However, since Haaland arrived, City have given emphasis on playing crosses into the box directed at him and he has often obliged by putting the ball into the net.
De Bruyne has also played brilliant through passes to the Norwegian at times, thus enabling the latter to get into the scoring sheet.
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Transition Period at Manchester City
The reigning champions are undergoing a rebuilding phase at the moment, with veterans like Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker probably spending their last season at the club.
Even de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva might not continue to be at the top of their game for too long.
In such a scenario, the young forward is likely to play a leading role in taking Manchester City forward in the upcoming years.
Along with the likes of Phil Foden, Savinho and Rico Lewis, Haaland is the player that the club’s management should rely on the most on in the future.
Almost all of City’s opponents prepare to tackle the Norwighand these days, but he has coped reasonably well with that so far.
It remains to be seen whether he will can continue to be the benchmark of goal-scoring excellence in the coming years as well.