Manchester City are “in love” with Erling Haaland and want him to remain at the club for the next decade, according to manager Pep Guardiola.
Haaland could make his first start for City since returning from injury after almost two months out with a stress fracture in a foot when the Premier League champions visited Brentford on Monday night.
Reports in Spain have mentioned Haaland is unsettled in Manchester amid fresh links with Real Madrid, who lost out to City in the battle for the 23-year-old in June 2022.
Sources at City feel such suggestions are merely an attempt by the Madrid media machine to unsettle their top scorer, whom Guardiola is convinced is happy in Manchester.
Although Haaland’s existing contract runs until June 2027, City are expected to open talks over a new deal before the end of the season and Guardiola has made no secret of his desire for his No 9 to stay for years to come.
“What do you think? That we don’t want Erling to stay here for a decade? Honestly,” Guardiola said, sarcastically. “Yes, we want him [to stay] for a long, long time in this club. We are in love with him.”
Haaland scored 52 goals last season on route to help City win the Treble of Premier League title, Champions League and FA Cup and already has 19 goals this term, despite that absence through injury, as the club again fights for silverware on three fronts.
‘We are happy to have him – hopefully he is happy with us’
Guardiola would not be drawn on whether he expected talk of Real renewing their interest in Haaland to accelerate City’s plans to extend his contract.
“I do not know. I am not involved in that,” the City manager said. “It’s always about the desire of the player, the club, does he stay, does he want to leave, I don’t have information.
“He arrived last season. His impact was incredible at the beginning of [this] season, it was really good, then had two months injured.
“What happens in the future honestly I don’t know. We are happy to have him. Hopefully he is happy to be with us. That’s what we know. The rest I don’t know. We can’t control what the people say.”
Real are said to be convinced that Haaland, who is reputed to have a release clause worth at least £150 million, sees his long-term future in Madrid, even though their more immediate priority is to snare France international striker Kylian Mbappé from Paris St -Germain.
Reports in recent days have mentioned Haaland speaks to the Real midfielder Jude Bellingham on a weekly basis and that his friend and former Borussia Dortmund team-mate regularly talks up life in Madrid.
‘If someone wants Erling it’s easy – phone. Call Man City and ask’
Yet Guardiola gave short shrift to the “noise” in the Madrid media and said if Real ever wanted Haaland it would be a case of having to pick up the phone to City.
“For one report … is it going to change something?” Guardiola asked. “It’s not going to happen. It’s going to happen when Erling decides to extend the contract or not, when the club decides to extend the contract or not, when we have potential offers for him or not.
“If someone wants Erling it’s easy – phone. Call Man City and ask. So that is what we do when we want to sign someone. It’s not complicated.
“Of course you have to ignore it [the media talk]. I know the reality in this world. It doesn’t bother me at all, so as much as the players are focused on what they have to do the rest is not important.”
Guardiola said it was an “honour” for City’s best players to be linked with other top clubs.
“It’s normal that Real Madrid wants the best players, and Barcelona, or in Italy, or PSG, it’s normal. It’s an honor. [Manchester] United want the best players, and Liverpool, and Arsenal. It’s not a surprise,” he added.
“If they [Real] really want him [Haaland] it is an honor and it means that we did a good job, especially Erling. In that case we made an incredible job so, yeah, is it true? I do not know. Is it just to make a little bit of noise? That’s fine.
“First it’s an honor that the important clubs want our players but in the end the players decide and of course our best players, I know from my chairman, sporting director and CEO and the other people – we want to keep our best players.”