LOOK OUT DANNY ROWE
If Erling Haaland had signed his new and improved, all-singing, all-dancing, nine-and-a-half-year contract with Manchester City a month ago, headline writers could have had a blast by pointing out the Norwegian was putting pen to paper on a 115-month deal [you rounding up? – Football Daily Ed]. The significance of that particular number being that it is commonly associated with the Rooks Problem in chess, a game the 24-year-old Norwegian striker once told an interviewer he does not like to play. Sadly, the buzzkills in the City HR department have denied sub-editors nationwide their little window of fun with his record deal, reported to be worth £500,000 per week basic. All of which means that, even if he never scores another goal, the striker will trouser something in the region of £246m more by the time he turns 34, leaving him a couple of years to top up his pension in whatever lucrative retirement backwater happens to be fashionable in a decade’s time.
