Erling Haaland

[Trequarista10]

It will be very interesting to see how this unfolds as the awareness around sportswashing grows going into to the WC in Qatar. Netherlands will follow Norway and Germany and do a pro human rights stunt before their game tonight, and more nations will follow...
I mean, after wearing that t-shirt on thursday, Gundo should feel bad about going back to work for sheik Mansour of Abu Dhabi and continue to contribute to this after this. If he doesn’t he is a cynical hypocrite

Are the national teams who perform these stunts hypocrites if they still participate in the World Cup in Qatar?

I ask genuinely, not rhetorically. I don't know. Is it feasible or even possible for them to do anything more than to make performative stunts? Or are these stunts simply for their own PR and the good feels. Are any real efforts being made to challenge Qatar? Should they opt out of the World Cup, or is that insane? What if multiple big sides mutually agreed to boycott the World Cup, surely that would force FIFA's hand?

Overall I don't really think its on individual players to be making these kind of decisions or who should be blamed for being employed by a certain team. Surely the emphasis/responsibility/blame lies on the institutions.

 

[Samid]

Up against a PL CB pairing today. Let’s see if he has what it takes to take the step up to the hardest league in the world.

 

[RUCK4444]

The way he's playing they can benefit a lot more just by keeping him. I think he's priceless as there are no other players in his age bracket playing at his standard, so from a pure sporting perspective is best to keep him as long as he wants to play for them. His value can only get higher each season and he can sign an extension anyway.

His release clause kicks in next season. They stand to make a LOT more by selling him this summer. Which is my point.

 

[Crustanoid]

Are the national teams who perform these stunts hypocrites if they still participate in the World Cup in Qatar?

I ask genuinely, not rhetorically. I don't know. Is it feasible or even possible for them to do anything more than to make performative stunts? Or are these stunts simply for their own PR and the good feels. Are any real efforts being made to challenge Qatar? Should they opt out of the World Cup, or is that insane? What if multiple big sides mutually agreed to boycott the World Cup, surely that would force FIFA's hand?

Overall I don't really think its on individual players to be making these kind of decisions or who should be blamed for being employed by a certain team. Surely the emphasis/responsibility/blame lies on the institutions.

Can anyone imagine all the PL teams refusing to play City? It doesn’t happen because of the money involved. The problem is everyone in football enables this, including the fans.

 

[troylocker]

Are the national teams who perform these stunts hypocrites if they still participate in the World Cup in Qatar?

I ask genuinely, not rhetorically. I don't know. Is it feasible or even possible for them to do anything more than to make performative stunts? Or are these stunts simply for their own PR and the good feels. Are any real efforts being made to challenge Qatar? Should they opt out of the World Cup, or is that insane? What if multiple big sides mutually agreed to boycott the World Cup, surely that would force FIFA's hand?

Overall I don't really think its on individual players to be making these kind of decisions or who should be blamed for being employed by a certain team. Surely the emphasis/responsibility/blame lies on the institutions.

Good and important questions. I don’t have the answers, but it will be very interesting to see where this goes and I think this is a good to make the cause gain some traction.
I do think though, that if you’re aware of sportswashing and have taken a stands against it, it should be impossible for you to sign for clubs like City or PSG.

 

[cyberman]

Can anyone imagine all the PL teams refusing to play City? It doesn’t happen because of the money involved. The problem is everyone in football enables this, including the fans.

If everybody just played their reserves v City and made wins meaningless and be less attractive to players etc they would be gone in 5 years.

 

[Crustanoid]

If everybody just played their reserves v City and made wins meaningless and be less attractive to players etc they would be gone in 5 years.

That would be great, and valid, but unfortunately it won’t happen. It should have happened back in 2008.

 

[onetwo3oclock4oclockrock]

Are the national teams who perform these stunts hypocrites if they still participate in the World Cup in Qatar?

No. You can criticize your boss without quitting your job. You can criticize Assad without joining the the Syrian militia.

They are shining a light on the problems going on in Qatar, and putting pressure on FIFA and the organizers.

Seen a lot of criticism and whataboutism on SoMe toward Germany and Norway for doing this. But it is 100% better to do something, than to do nothing at all. If all teams would join this campaign and wave the flag of human rights before every qualifying match, it would be a real embarrassment for Qatar, and make FIFA think twice the next time some regime puts money in their pockets for a big arrangement.

 

[sun_tzu]

If everybody just played their reserves v City and made wins meaningless and be less attractive to players etc they would be gone in 5 years.

Isn't there an undertaking from all premier league teams that they have to ay a strong side or they can be fined money and points...
If a couple of teams did that it runs the risk of devaluing (litterally) I'm terms of TV deals the Premier league product... they will stick somebody with a million quid fine and Dock them 50 points of something to ensure they are relegated and nobody else tries it

 

[cyberman]

Isn't there an undertaking from all premier league teams that they have to ay a strong side or they can be fined money and points...
If a couple of teams did that it runs the risk of devaluing (litterally) I'm terms of TV deals the Premier league product... they will stick somebody with a million quid fine and Dock them 50 points of something to ensure they are relegated and nobody else tries it

They cant relegate everybody though.

 

[Beachryan]

One thing I will say is that Dortmund have some excellent PR. Looks at ESPN front page:
1. An article about Haaland's rookie card (https://www.espn.com/soccer/borussi...reaking-rookie-card-as-soccer-market-explodes)
2. One about him being the next world's best (https://www.espn.com/soccer/borussi...aland-could-become-the-worlds-best-footballer)
3. Oh and here's one about Dortmund being shrewd and saying all the right things (https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-...aland-fee-at-180m-tiktok-torment-at-barcelona)

That's just the front page!

 

[ZolaWasMagic]

What i said before will still happen IMO

He's going Madrid unless they don't bid. It's that simple. If they get in Raiola's ear, and Haalands and say stay until summer 2022 and we will pay your clause... he will do that

It's Real Madrid, so cant blame him, really

 

[Boavista]

If everybody just played their reserves v City and made wins meaningless and be less attractive to players etc they would be gone in 5 years.

That would be great, and valid, but unfortunately it won’t happen. It should have happened back in 2008.

Where do you draw the line though? Should clubs have boycotted Chelsea too, or only full on state-backed clubs? Aren't Newcastle still in talks with the Saudis, and Sheffield Utd owned by a Saudi prince?

I think that train has left the station. If clubs were willing to play their reserves as a form of protest, they could just as well get together and put some rules in writing to stop takeovers on ethical grounds. In theory the premier league can refuse to approve takeover bids, can't they? I believe they only check if a bid is financially sustainable though, and not sure whether they've ever not approved. Ultimately with all other clubs being owned by billionaires and businessmen, you can't exactly expect them to care who the other owners are.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

What i said before will still happen IMO

He's going Madrid unless they don't bid. It's that simple. If they get in Raiola's ear, and Haalands and say stay until summer 2022 and we will pay your clause... he will do that

It's Real Madrid, so cant blame him, really

However will we prove you wrong.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

One thing I will say is that Dortmund have some excellent PR. Looks at ESPN front page:
1. An article about Haaland's rookie card (https://www.espn.com/soccer/borussi...reaking-rookie-card-as-soccer-market-explodes)
2. One about him being the next world's best (https://www.espn.com/soccer/borussi...aland-could-become-the-worlds-best-footballer)
3. Oh and here's one about Dortmund being shrewd and saying all the right things (https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-...aland-fee-at-180m-tiktok-torment-at-barcelona)

That's just the front page!

ESPN are like the page 3 of sports journalism. They spend all their time making click-baity videos on Messi, Ronaldo, Haaland and Mbappe.

 

[cyberman]

What i said before will still happen IMO

He's going Madrid unless they don't bid. It's that simple. If they get in Raiola's ear, and Haalands and say stay until summer 2022 and we will pay your clause... he will do that

It's Real Madrid, so cant blame him, really

Perez doesn't deal with super agents?

 

[GatoLoco]

Because he’s said so? I don’t think people realise how much Norwegians get inundated with press about anything resembling an international celebrity from our own country.



Speaking of old man Haaland:



One more from Alfie:



You won’t find similar quotes about Serie A or La Liga. As many Norwegians on here have pointed out, the Premiership holds a privileged position in Norway.

Thanks for that.

As I said in an earlier post, I have seen many indications from Spanish sources that mosts posters here are not aware of. I guess it's relatively easy for me to come to places such as these are read opinionated posts like yours, but it's not that easy for most users here to go to Spanish sources, select the reliable options and notice the big consensus among them as well as spot some very telling signs that might lead you into thinking that the Premiership is not the only option, or just to be more direct and avoid annoying euphemisms, that he's going to Real Madrid.

But we'll have to wait and see if my intuition is right or if I'm making a big mistake on this issue.

 

[mitchmouse]

IF ESPN's story about the fee being £154m, I can't see anyone - not even City or Real - buying him. Certainly not us

 

[Pow]

IF ESPN's story about the fee being £154m, I can't see anyone - not even City or Real - buying him. Certainly not us

Gwaarn roman !

 

[Eriku]

Thanks for that.

As I said in an earlier post, I have seen many indications from Spanish sources that mosts posters here are not aware of. I guess it's relatively easy for me to come to places such as these are read opinionated posts like yours, but it's not that easy for most users here to go to Spanish sources, select the reliable options and notice the big consensus among them as well as spot some very telling signs that might lead you into thinking that the Premiership is not the only option, or just to be more direct and avoid annoying euphemisms, that he's going to Real Madrid.

But we'll have to wait and see if my intuition is right or if I'm making a big mistake on this issue.

Why are you assuming the Spanish press is more reliable? A good number of your papers openly have an allegiance to the cause of the likes of Real, and they won’t have as many sources close to Erling and his father as our press would.

Might be over a year until we find out, and I’m not saying I think he’s definitely not going to Spain, but that there’s more tangible well-sourced evidence that he’s going to be more interested in the EPL.

Btw, is opinionated posts like mine some sort of dig? I cited three quotes and added a sentiment about the EPL’s standing in Norway that loads of other posters would back up. I wasn’t stating opinion in that post.

 

[GatoLoco]

Why are you assuming the Spanish press is more reliable?

The Spanish press is not more trustworthy as a whole. But I think I know which are the reliable sources of any kind because of my experience throughout the years, which does not mean I couldn't be totally wrong on this.

A good number of your papers openly have an allegiance to the cause of the likes of Real, and they won’t have as many sources close to Erling and his father as our press would.

In that case it would be interesting to know if you notice any changes in the coming weeks.

Might be over a year until we find out, and I’m not saying I think he’s definitely not going to Spain, but that there’s more tangible well-sourced evidence that he’s going to be more interested in the EPL.

We'll wait and see.

 

[Acheron]

His release clause kicks in next season. They stand to make a LOT more by selling him this summer. Which is my point.

Yeah, but like I said from a sporting perspective he's more valuable to them and they really can't replace him no matter how much they sell him for. Maybe if they were super ahead in the league they would be more willing to sell him for a good price. Anyway I really don't think they should sell him this summer if he doesn't want to leave, they're much better with a player like him and have more chances of reaching their sporting goals with him than with the money.

 

[Harry190]

Yeah, but like I said from a sporting perspective he's more valuable to them and they really can't replace him no matter how much they sell him for. Maybe if they were super ahead in the league they would be more willing to sell him for a good price. Anyway I really don't think they should sell him this summer if he doesn't want to leave, they're much better with a player like him and have more chances of reaching their sporting goals with him than with the money.

They're not a serious team. That's all there is to it.

 

[dinostar77]

The Spanish press is not more trustworthy as a whole. But I think I know which are the reliable sources of any kind because of my experience throughout the years, which does not mean I couldn't be totally wrong on this.



In that case it would be interesting to know if you notice any changes in the coming weeks.



We'll wait and see.

If I had to put money on it, it would be Madrid.

 

[RUCK4444]

Yeah, but like I said from a sporting perspective he's more valuable to them and they really can't replace him no matter how much they sell him for. Maybe if they were super ahead in the league they would be more willing to sell him for a good price. Anyway I really don't think they should sell him this summer if he doesn't want to leave, they're much better with a player like him and have more chances of reaching their sporting goals with him than with the money.

It depends on their financial situation though. Dortmund depend a lot on buying cheap and selling high.

They’ve made this exact mistake with Sancho last summer, they could have gotten a big fee from us and turned it down, he’s likely to leave a lot cheaper now with one year less on his contract and after a mediocre season, they will only compound that financial loss by doing the same with Haaland.

I guess we will see how deep Dortmund’s pockets are.

Personally I think they would be mental, these are players that are both earmarked to be leaving the club, its their obligation to get as much money as they can particularly when you factor in lost revenues from Covid.

In my opinion the financial loss for what are temporary players anyway outweighs the benefit of keeping him.

 

[Harold_Giles]

A question for the Real Madrid supporters.

For me it has always been a matter of time before you got Mbappe.
I'm really struggling to see how you bring in both Mbappe and Haaland.
You think Haaland is now the main target?

 

[DoneDaDa]

It will be very interesting to see how this unfolds as the awareness around sportswashing grows going into to the WC in Qatar. Netherlands will follow Norway and Germany and do a pro human rights stunt before their game tonight, and more nations will follow...
I mean, after wearing that t-shirt on thursday, Gundo should feel bad about going back to work for sheik Mansour of Abu Dhabi and continue to contribute to this after this. If he doesn’t he is a cynical hypocrite

I don't think we're going into anything tbh I feel this is all being done to make the masses happy more of a "Hey, at least we tried and did our part." type of situation. Most of these players either have some sort of money, investment or sponsorship with these countries. I mean we don't hear much about Uyghurs genocide that's going on or all the other discrimination, human rights abuse you can equally say football fans are hypocrites also we are only talking about this because City/PSG and world cup being in Qatar.

 

[dinostar77]

A question for the Real Madrid supporters.

For me it has always been a matter of time before you got Mbappe.
I'm really struggling to see how you bring in both Mbappe and Haaland.
You think Haaland is now the main target?

I'm not a Madrid fan but its been obvious for awhile that Mbappe is target no1. Unfortunately for them a) PSG still want a stupidly high transfer fee for a player with 18mts left on his contract. Also the renewal offer from PSG for Mbappe would put him on par with Neymar wages wise. Seeing how covid has affected football finances and redevelopment of the santiago bernebau thats going on. You can understand why Madrid would switch to Haaland. As a package overall he wouldnt be as expensive as Mbappe. You could always then get Mbappe on a free in the summer of 2022.

As a football fan i really hope this doesnt happen as Madrid winning more CL trophies is just boring.

 

[GledTheRed]

We failed to get him and Bellingham over the line and they both chose BVB.

Absolute incompetence from us.

 

[Eriku]

Do not want. He’s a steep track bully. Can’t do it on a sunny day in Gibraltar.

 

[Crustanoid]

We failed to get him and Bellingham over the line and they both chose BVB.

Absolute incompetence from us.

Our owners are the Glazers
Our CEO is Ed Woodward

Get used to this for decades.

Remember

Rio is the best CB in a generation, young, with years ahead of him.

We sign him

Rooney is a generational teenager

We sign him

Ronaldo, a (at the time) slightly under the radar talent who ends up being one of the best ever

We sign him

Nowadays we get the likes of Daniel James, Fred and Martial and that’s what we are going to be stuck with

 

[GledTheRed]

Our owners are the Glazers
Our CEO is Ed Woodward

Get used to this for decades.

Remember

Rio is the best CB in a generation, young, with years ahead of him.

We sign him

Rooney is a generational teenager

We sign him

Ronaldo, a (at the time) slightly under the radar talent who ends up being one of the best ever

We sign him

Nowadays we get the likes of Daniel James, Fred and Martial and that’s what we are going to be stuck with

The thing is we identified them both early doors and were the front runners only for them love to see it cnuts to gazump us.

 

[Crustanoid]

The thing is we identified them both early doors and were the front runners only for them love to see it cnuts to gazump us.

Crucially the people at the top didn’t go all out to sign them, which is what we would have done before this ownership.

Hence, we don’t sign the best young players anymore because of a cross between greed, incompetence, and them actually not giving a shit about football

 

[AneRu]

Our owners are the Glazers
Our CEO is Ed Woodward

Get used to this for decades.

Remember

Rio is the best CB in a generation, young, with years ahead of him.

We sign him

Rooney is a generational teenager

We sign him

Ronaldo, a (at the time) slightly under the radar talent who ends up being one of the best ever

We sign him

Nowadays we get the likes of Daniel James, Fred and Martial and that’s what we are going to be stuck with

Rio and Rooney were established players looking for the step up whilst Haaland and Bellingham still needed games for their development which Dortmund can guarantee. I think with Haaland it's slightly different in that he was good enough to start but Mino wanted a big payday or an easy way out which we weren't comfortable with.

 

[Crustanoid]

Rio and Rooney were established players looking for the step up whilst Haaland and Bellingham still needed games for their development which Dortmund can guarantee. I think with Haaland it's slightly different in that he was good enough to start but Mino wanted a big payday or an easy way out which we weren't comfortable with.

Still comes back to our ownership mismanaging the football side of things because their priorities lie elsewhere

 

[cyberman]

Still comes back to our ownership mismanaging the football side of things because their priorities lie elsewhere

But we do nothing but sign highly rated young players. We cant sign them all

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Our owners are the Glazers
Our CEO is Ed Woodward

Get used to this for decades.

Remember

Rio is the best CB in a generation, young, with years ahead of him.

We sign him

Rooney is a generational teenager

We sign him

Ronaldo, a (at the time) slightly under the radar talent who ends up being one of the best ever

We sign him

Nowadays we get the likes of Daniel James, Fred and Martial and that’s what we are going to be stuck with

I despise the Glasers but to be fair we broke the world record and paid the highest ever transfer fee for Pogba, and we broke the world record again for a defender in Maquire. And I still remember Ronaldinho as one of the most famous United transfers never to happen.

 

[croadyman]

Hope they fail to qualify for CL next season, and no one buy Haaland for 180m, nor anyone interest in Sancho for 100m. So next season they will loss Haaland for 75m, and maybe Sancho for 50m.

Being optimistic the absolute best we can hope for is we could get Sancho this summer but simply needs to be sorted before the euros because can see him having a good tournament, IF Haaland is still available next summer then we join the race but Ole should turn on the charm to him and his agent (yes I know what he is) before the clause activates.

 

[carvajal]

A question for the Real Madrid supporters.

For me it has always been a matter of time before you got Mbappe.
I'm really struggling to see how you bring in both Mbappe and Haaland.
You think Haaland is now the main target?

It is a bit early to answer firmly. We don't know how desperate Mbappé is (the salary, as @dinostar77 said), if the club will use another credit, if Zidane will continue, if Raiola is talking to Laporta and City or how far the auction will go.

Right now listening to the press and pundits I would say that Haaland is the first option.
According to most of them, he would be more important for the team and easier to buy for the club, but the press says what Madrid want.
Reliable sources in Spain put Madrid on the right track, but we miss some international source.

Madrid have taken great care of their relations with PSG (even a couple of years ago with a statement denying contacts with Mbappé).
So perhaps they intend to pressure Mbappé to say publicly that he won't renew.
If he does, I think the picture would change. Leaving for free in 2022 seems impossible.
I cannot imagine Florentino reaching that point, nor Mbappé enduring a year without renewing.

 

[AneRu]

Still comes back to our ownership mismanaging the football side of things because their priorities lie elsewhere

What could they done differently, though? Give in to Mino? The deal was dead the moment Raoila entered the fray because he was still at war with us for refusing Pogba his move.