Here are your Manchester City evening headlines for Monday, April 18.
Man City strengthen Erling Haaland transfer grip as Bayern Munich rule out a move for Borussia Dortmund striker
Bayern Munich ruled themselves out of the race to sign Erling Haaland, apparently leaving Manchester City and Real Madrid to slug it out. The Blues are in pole position to land the 21-year-old Borussia Dortmund striker, but Spanish giants Real are refusing to give up, with Haaland available under the £64million terms of his release clause.
The package, with agent fees, is expected to rise closer to £100m, and Bayern have said that such an amount is beyond them. Haaland could announce his future before the end of the season, and City have been thrashing out a financial package after making him their number one target for the summer.
With all of the top clubs in Europe interested, City have always held aces - they have no recognised striker at the moment, know that Haaland is a City fan after dad Alf Inge played there, and they have emerged from the financial troubles of lockdown in a healthier condition than most due to a lesser reliance on matchday revenue.
European Super League one year on — How Man City fans reclaimed their club in 46 hours
At 11.20pm on a Sunday in April exactly one year ago, football changed.
An identical statement was posted on the websites of Manchester City and 11 other European giants. Seemingly out of nowhere, they were withdrawing from the Champions League and setting up a $3.5billion breakaway competition as founding members. It would guarantee more money for those clubs, and remove the fear of failing to qualify for the world’s most prestigious games the following season.
It was, rather unimaginatively, called the European Super League, and when City pressed publish on that statement they cannot have anticipated the backlash that followed. The fact there was the same statement published by each club, with comment from Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer but nobody connected with City, only grated with fans more.
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