Erling Haaland could become the first player in world football to make a transfer worth £1billion, according to his agent Rafaela Pimenta.
Haaland left Borussia Dortmund to join Manchester City after they activated a £51.2million (€60m) release clause in his BVB contract in May, and the striker has already begun to pay that fee back by making an incredible start to life in England.
The Norwegian became the first player to score as many as nine goals in his first five Premier League appearances in August and has already netted three hat-tricks in the competition.
Haaland has hit the net 15 times in 10 league games for City, and Pimenta, who manages the agency built by the late Mino Raiola, believes he could make history with his next move.
Asked to put a price on Haaland by Sky Sport Italia, Pimenta said: "One billion, that's what I think.
"If you put together his football value, his image value, his sponsorship value, it is one billion, for sure.
"It's also normal to compare Erling with [Kylian] Mbappe, so you have a little bit of an idea of the market. I think Erling will be the first player to achieve a transfer around one billion."
Haaland's incredible form has coincided with speculation linking him to Real Madrid, but Pimenta would be open to discussing a new contract with City instead of instigating a move away.
Asked whether Haaland could already be in line for a new deal, she said: "I hope so! If they want to discuss it today, I would be happy. Why not?"
However, Pimenta kept her cards close to her chest when questioned on reports claiming Haaland's current contract has a release clause allowing him to join Madrid on favourable terms.
"The good and bad of being a lawyer is that you know what you cannot say," she added. "You don't need someone poking you, saying; 'Don't say this, don't say that'. I cannot talk about it."
Malacia makes Man Utd comeback after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Malacia makes injury comeback for Under-21s after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Taylor pleased with Man City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino were on target in the second half at the Joie Stadium, moving them three points clear at the top of Group D.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
The hosts dominated for large parts of the encounter, ending with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.75 from their 16 shots, while also accumulating 73.6% possession.
But Taylor was happy with his side's display and explained the physical test against the Swedish champions was something his players will benefit from moving forward.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad.
Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the Women's Super League, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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