Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Manchester City are close to finalising the signing of Erling Haaland, admitting that both clubs have asked him not to speak about the transfer.
City have agreed to sign the Norway international and are now locked in talks with Dortmund over the specifics of the deal, with the Premier League leaders set to trigger his release clause of just over £60m.
Predictably, Haaland’s future was the first matter discussed during Guardiola’s press conference on Tuesday, and the Spaniard confirmed that everything is moving well in the background.
“Everybody knows the situation,” Guardiola admitted. “I shouldn’t talk because I don’t like to talk about the future or next season. Dortmund and Man City told me I’m not allowed to say anything until it’s completely done. We’ll have time to talk.”
When pressed for more, Guardiola could hardly contain his laughter as he said: “I’d love to talk, they tell me don’t say anything until the legal actions [are done]. We’ll have time to talk, it’s not because I don’t want to.”
Listen now to 90min’s brand new podcast, Talking Transfers, with Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth. This week they discuss mounting interest in Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni. There’s also updates on the contract situations of Sadio Mane, Reece James, Pep Guardiola & Kylian Mbappe, Marcus Rashford’s next moves and Manchester United’s interest in Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
Talk then turned to the general idea of City adding a new, mystery striker, with Guardiola asked what he would expect from his team with a traditional number nine leading the attack.
“We have a number nine, we have new players in the squad, some from the academy who come up next season,” he said. “New players always help me try to be stronger, not only a good defender will solve our defensive problems and not only a good striker will solve scoring problems.
“Since day one it is like this apart from one period at the beginning of the season, we score lots and concede few. The club always has to have a vision for the future. The decisions the club takes, I’m always aware and 100% supportive.”
