Erling Haaland has refused to rule out a move from Manchester City despite stressing his happiness at the club.
The prolific Norwegian was linked with Real Madrid earlier this season and he did not dismiss the idea he may one day move at a press conference on Tuesday.
Showing an awareness of media operations, the 23-year-old even said this could be the main news line to come from his appearance in front of reporters to preview Wednesday’s Champions League clash against FC Copenhagen.
Erling Haaland was speaking during a press conference ahead of the clash against FC Copenhagen (Nick Potts/PA)
He was therefore especially keen to point out how satisfied he is with life at City, for whom he has scored a staggering 80 goals in 84 appearances since joining in the summer of 2022.
Haaland said: “I’m really happy, especially with the people that I’m surrounded with – the manager, the directors, the board, they are a group of amazing people and I’m really happy, I have to say.
“If I say this now it’s probably going to be a massive headline – tomorrow you never know what the future brings. But I’m happy. You can write this but you also have to write everything I said before! I’m happy.”
Haaland is contracted to 2027 but refused to comment on whether he might sign a new deal.
The former Borussia Dortmund striker said: “My focus mainly now is on the pitch, there’s a lot of games.
“Two days ago was the Manchester derby, now Champions League. Sunday is Liverpool. I think I should focus on that. I don’t think I should focus on anything else at the moment.”
Haaland helped City win a glorious treble in his remarkable first season at the club but getting his hands on so many trophies has not dulled his appetite to win more.
He said: “You can think about it in two ways. One thing, I came here and won it all, and the other thing, I’m 23 years old and I won everything and I got the taste of it, how it is to win everything.
“How I work is that when I feel this is, I want to win it again. Easy as that.”
ERLING 💬 Live everything in life, if you overthink it’s not good. If you have stress, it’s not good. My life is about football so that’s what I focus on. I have one career, my focus is to be the best player I can be. pic.twitter.com/XfH0l8IEWj
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 5, 2024
Such has been Haaland’s stunning impact at City that him missing a chance can now create headlines.
This was the case on Sunday when he contrived to volley over an open goal from close range against Manchester United, although he did later get on the scoresheet in a 3-1 win.
Haaland said: “People say I’m good at scoring goals but I missed the biggest chance in the world ever a couple of days ago.
“Yes, I’ve been missing, I missed a lot of chances. I will still keep on missing chances, but I will still keep on scoring goals.
Erling Haaland missed an open goal against Manchester United on Sunday (Mike Egerton/PA)
“I’ll probably miss a big chance in the future as well, and people are going to criticise me, but what can I do then? Should I think of that? No, just focus on scoring more goals and to help the team.”
Haaland admitted when he was younger such a miss would have bothered him a lot but now he has learned to bounce back from disappointments.
“It’s been a challenge for me,” he said. “I remember when I was young I would start crying if we lost and I missed a lot of chances.
“I’ve been working on it a lot and in the end everything is in here (taps head).”
