Barcelona are ready to go all out to sign one of Manchester City’s stars in 2025 amid ongoing uncertainty over the future of the Etihad club.
What next for Manchester City?
Having dominated English football for much of the last decade, Manchester City and Pep Guardiola made it a historic four consecutive Premier League title wins as they beat Arsenal to top spot on the final day of the season. Now, they are looking to make it a record fifth straight title, and have started the season strongly. As it stands, they sit just a point behind Liverpool, level on points with Arsenal after seven games and unbeaten thus far this season.
That has been achieved largely without Ballon d’Or candidate and arguably best midfielder in world football Rodri, who is set to be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign with a knee injury sustained in his side’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.
But beyond this season, the future for Manchester City remains unclear; Guardiola is out of contract this summer as thing stand, and recent reports have both linked him with the vacant England job and also a potential one-year extension at Manchester City.
It leaves City in limbo just days after it was announced that Txiki Begiristain would be stepping down as Director of Football for the club at the end of the season, to be replaced by Hugo Viana from Sporting CP.
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Then, there are the 115 charges levelled at the club by the Premier League, a case which remains ongoing but from which a conclusion is expected at the beginning of 2025. It has left clubs circling around the Etihad, and Barcelona are one of them.
Barcelona to go all out for Erling Haaland
Now Barcelona are looking to go all out to sign Erling Haaland in 2025 as they look for a long term replacement for Robert Lewandowski, reports claim. It has previously been claimed that Haaland is unhappy in Manchester, and sees a move to Spain as a natural step in his career, but one would do well to trust such reports in the Spanish media.
A move to Real Madrid is now off the table following the signings of both Endrick and Kylian Mbappé, which leaves Barcelona as the only other logical move should he wish to move to Spain. And according to reports in Spain [via Football Transfers], Barcelona are keen to go ‘all out’ to try and sign the Norwegian goalscoring phenomenon next summer.
Having won the Premier League golden boot in each of the last two seasons, Haaland has already grabbed 10 Premier League goals this time around and leads the way once more.
Premier League goalscoring charts
Erling Haaland
10
Cole Palmer
6
Bryan Mbeumo
6
Luis Diaz
5
Mohamed Salah
4
Guardiola is understandably a huge fan of his treble-winning striker, hailing him “unbelievable” after a hat-trick against West Ham earlier in the season: “He is so reliable on penalties. Assist for the second, fantastic for the third. Last season he struggled a lot, especially at the beginning. He felt tired and niggles most of the time. This time, with the rest with no Euros, he has arrived with a good vibe. The numbers are unbelievable.”
Taking home a massive £375,000 a week at the Etihad as a base salary, with a further £475,000 in bonuses, Haaland still has three years left to run on his contract in Manchester.
With Barcelona having struggled to register free transfers, let alone pay significant transfer fees in recent seasons, the striker’s reported massive £173m release clause is likely to be beyond even the Catalan giants, let alone the mammoth wages he would demand. Though a deal looks unlikely, much could hinge on the outcome of Manchester City’s court case.