Pep Guardiola is willing to put his feud with Mino Raiola aside to secure Erling Braut Haaland’s arrival at Manchester City in the near future, English media assure Sunday. The Manchester City manager and acclaimed agent have been at odds for years since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s unsuccessful stay at Barcelona. Raiola thinks Guardiola is ‘a great trainer’, but as a person ‘a coward and a dog’ based on the experiences of Ibrahimovic and other clients such as Maxwell.
The difficult relationship has meant that in recent years Raiola has brought hardly any or no important football players to a Guardiola club and, coincidentally or not, that employers of the Spaniard showed no interest in football players whose interests were or are being promoted by the Italian Dutchman. . English media assured on Sunday that Guardiola is willing to put his pride aside, as he is particularly fond of Haaland. The Norwegian is one of the most sought-after football players of the moment and has Raiola as his advocate.
“Only ten clubs can afford to buy Haaland and offer what you are after when you played for Borussia Dortmund. And four of those clubs come from England ”, assured Raiola, without naming names, in conversation with last week BBC Sport. “I don’t think there is a technical director or trainer in the world who would say, ‘I’m not interested in Haaland’.”
The question is whether Haaland will wear the Borussia Dortmund shirt around his shoulders for a long time. The Norwegian came over from Red Bull Salzburg thirteen months ago for twenty million euros, where he played fewer matches than scored goals: 27 at 29. In Germany, Haaland had hardly any adjustment problems either: 44 matches in all competitions, 43 goals. Rumor has it that next summer a clause will come into effect that makes it possible to buy the attacker for ‘only’ 75 million euros. The talent’s contract will run for another three years after this season.
Such a situation is not new for Manchester City. Guardiola also got the full brunt of Dimitri Seluk, the former agent of Yaya Touré, years ago. Seluk also questioned the Spaniard’s human qualities towards his client. Touré, who did not always maintain a good relationship with Guardiola at Barcelona, eventually signed a new contract with Manchester City.
Manchester City has been looking for a new striker behind the scenes for months. The contract of the 32-year-old Sergio Agüero is coming to an end and he missed several games this season due to injuries. Harry Kane’s name has also been mentioned at the Etihad Stadium: the club would consider the Tottenham Hotspur attacker as a serious alternative to Haaland.