Erling Haaland close to completing Manchester City move

Erling Haaland is close to completing his move to Manchester City.

Sources in Belgium have told Sky Sports News that Haaland completed a medical at Hospital Erasme in Brussels on Monday.

According to Sky Germany, the striker has informed Borussia Dortmund he will leave the club at the end of the season. The release clause on his contract is €75m.

Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano informed Dortmund boss Hans-Joachim Watzke last week City are ready to activate the striker’s release clause.

The clause stipulates Haaland’s transfer fee will have to be paid in one payment, unlike many of the other top transfers that happen in several instalments.

Some details are still to be finalised for the deal that is expected to be announced later this week.

Haaland has scored 85 goals in 88 matches for Dortmund since joining from RB Salzburg in January 2020. Dortmund’s last game of the season is Saturday’s home match against Hertha Berlin.

Pep Guardiola’s side have been leading the race to sign the 21-year-old and his release clause means Borussia Dortmund are resigned to losing the striker this summer. The 75m euro fee – which equates to £62m – for Haaland is widely considered to be below market value.

When asked about the club’s interest in the Norway striker last month, Guardiola responded: “[I have] no answer to your question.

“I have no concern or business in my head right now to think about what is going to happen in this club next season.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes the Haaland deal will “set new levels” in the transfer market.

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News, he said: “I signed a new contract knowing that City would not stop developing. It’s not about City to define if we can be happy or not, it’s about us and what we can make of it.

“You have so many opportunities and so many different ways to win a football game, and we have to find just one. It’s possible obviously and we can do that.

“We face City two, three – with cup competitions, the Champions League – five, six times maybe a year but not more often than all the rest.

“If Erling Haaland goes there, it will not weaken them, definitely not. I think there’s enough spoken about this transfer. I know there is a lot of talk out there about money, but this transfer will set new levels, let me say it like this.”

City have often played without a recognised striker this season following the exit of club-record goalscorer Sergio Aguero at the end of the 2020/21 campaign.

Asked whether his side needs a number nine, Guardiola said: “We are playing with good strikers this season, so I don’t know what is going to happen in the future. It’s next season, so I’m not going to talk [about it].”

Sky Sports News have approached Man City for comment.