Erling Haaland’s blistering form in his first season as Man City player has certainly not taken anyone by surprise as his caliber has never ever been in doubt and the striker’s agent has admitted even at this early juncture that tentative plans are already being formulated for his future not too far down the line.
The agent of Erling Haaland has claimed, albeit a tad presumptuously, that Real Madrid is no less an ideal “dreamland” for every player. Displaying an almost uncanny resemblance to the youngster’s former super agent Mino Raiola with his well-known penchance for being self-confident and brash to the point of being offensive in his demeanor, Haaland’s current agent Rafaela Pimenta claims the Spanish giants still have a certain “magic” and allure that players find difficult to resist despite the riches of the Premier League. Manchester City may have signed Haaland for £51m last summer ahead of the Los Blancos, there are still those hardcore Real Madrid fans who continue to harbor a strong belief that the 33-goal striker’s long-term ambition is to play for the 14-time European champions.
Pimenta, speaking out at the FT Business of Football summit in London, said: “There is the Premier League. And there is Real Madrid. And Real Madrid has something of its own that makes it the Dreamland for the players. Madrid keeps this magic going. It doesn’t have the league competition but it does have the Champions League.”
Brazilian lawyer Pimenta, who succeeded as Haaland’s lead agent after the death of Mino Raiola last year, said she maps out the careers of players and the Norway striker wanted to move to City but it is clear he may not be there for life.
She added: “In my agency we try to make a plan. We have to make a plan. We need to have a goal. Maybe we won’t achieve it but if don’t know where we’re going for sure we don’t get there.
“When we have a player, we make plans. Even if the player is 15 years old. We are planning out his career trajectory. When I started in this business, if I would say to a player ‘I’ll bring you to England’ the first thing they would say would be ‘what did I do wrong? Why don’t you like me?’
“But now, if I ask a player ‘what is your goal?’ he will say the Premier League. He doesn’t say City, Chelsea or Arsenal but the Premier League.”
Pimenta’s comments are but the latest in a long line of claims already long circling regarding Haaland’s long-term future with City. The striker’s Dad, Alfe-Inge, has already claimed that his son will only stay with City for “three or four years at the most.”
Pimenta also added that she has been maintaining constant dialogue with clubs around the world in order to ensure her clients are given the best possible chance of securing transfers: “The day the market [transfer window] finishes is the day I start visiting clubs to talk about players, to see what may be in the future. We are in February, I have already been to rounds of clubs four times this year.
“There are so many different clubs, we can be studying, who’s going to retire, who’s getting old, who’s injured, who’s doing bad. Maybe this will happen there. It’s like a chess game and you try to anticipate the next move.”