Pep Guardiola poses a challenge to Real Madrid with his interest in Erling Haaland.
Pep Guardiola has told Real Madrid that they should call Manchester City with an offer if they want to sign the Norwegian striker.
Many sources in Spain believe that Haaland wants to leave Manchester City because he does not like life in this city. Man City suspects that this could be an attempt by the Madrid-leaning media to displease the 23-year-old and deliberately push him towards the Bernabeu stadium.
Man City’s captain not long ago denied rumors about Haaland being unstable but now poses a challenge to any potential suitors like Real Madrid.
Guardiola said: “For a report, for a journalist or a Twitter account, an Instagram account, do you think they will change something that is going to happen? It won’t happen.”
“That will happen when Erling decides to extend his contract or not, when the club decides to extend his contract or not, or when we have potential offers for him or not.”
“If someone wants Erling, it’s easy. Call Man City and ask. That’s what we do when we want to sign someone. It’s not complicated at all.”
Haaland scored 52 goals in a superb first season at the Etihad Stadium and had scored 19 times this season before being sidelined with a foot injury in early December.
Guardiola talked about Haaland’s importance at Man City: “What do you think? That we don’t want Erling to stay here for a decade? We want him – for a long time at this club. We love him.”
However, Guardiola admitted he does not know what the future holds. “I have no information,” he said. He came in last season and the impact was incredible. Early this season, the numbers were really good too. He was injured for two months. What will happen in the future? Honestly, I don’t know. We are happy to have him, hope he is happy with us. That’s what we know. And the rest? I do not know.”
Guardiola insists he ignores transfer rumors but admits it is normal to have players linked with big clubs.
Pep shared: “It’s normal that Real Madrid wants the best players and Barcelona wants the best players, or the clubs in Italy, or PSG want the best players. We want the best players and Man United want the best players, as do Liverpool, Arsenal and everyone. That’s normal, nothing surprising.”
Man City will certainly be worried about Haaland’s situation, the difficulty of owning Mbappe could cause Real Madrid to turn to the Norwegian striker. With its reputation, Real is fully capable of defeating Man City to own this top striker.