Erling Haaland's agent, Rafaela Pimenta, has refused to deny that there is a release clause in the Manchester City forward's contract.
Haaland has adapted seamlessly to life in the Premier League after City triggered a £51million release clause to pinch the sought-after striker from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. However, it has been widely speculated that a similar clause has been written into the five-year deal that Haaland penned with City back in June.
It is believed that Haaland would be able to leave the Etihad for £175m when the clause becomes live in 2024 - a development that has already appeared to pique the interest of both Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Haaland was represented by Mino Raiola until his death in April, but Pimenta, who now looks after the City ace. And speculation over his future is likely to intensify after Pimenta failed to cool talk of the clause when she was quizzed on the subject by Sky Sports Italy. She said: “Here the lawyer is speaking: I cannot answer.”
Manchester City fended off interest from a host of other European clubs to clinch a deal for Haaland in the summer, and the 22-year-old Norwegian international has quickly underlined why he was in such high demand.
Haaland has shattered Premier League goalscoring records after plundering 20 goals in 15 games for Pep Guardiola's side since his big summer switch. Already, the former Borussia Dortmund hitman is just eight goals short of last year's Golden Boot winning tally.
Join the debate! Do you think Haaland will become the first £1billion player? Let us know here.
Revelations over a release clause came shortly after Haaland's father, Alf-Inge, raised doubts over his son's long-term future at the Etihad by revealing that the striker has aspirations to play for other top European clubs.
Speaking last month, he said: "I think Erling wants to prove his abilities in all leagues. Then he can stay there [City] for three or four years at the most. He could be, for example, two-and-a-half years in Germany, two-and-a-half years in England and then in Spain, Italy, France, right?"
And Pimenta is adamant that her client has the scope to go on and become the first-ever £1bn footballer. When she was asked what her client could be worth in the future, she instantly replied: "One billion. That's what I think, because if you put together his football value, his image value, his sponsor value, it is for sure one billion.
"And if you compare, it's normal to compare Erling [Haaland] 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 that will be around one billion."
