Ilkay Gundogan has welcomed Erling Haaland to Manchester City with a challenge, after the new number nine namechecked Gundogan when discussing his reasons for moving to the Etihad.
Haaland is a £51m signing from Dortmund, who faced City in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2021. City edged the tie and progressed to the semi-final, although much of the post-match reaction was centred on Haaland's apparent admiration for the Etihad Stadium and his conversations with Phil Foden.
In a press conference to unveil the new summer signings, Haaland was asked what he remembered of the two games vs City last year. In response, Haaland said he barely touched the ball, and called out Gundogan for his performance.
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"I played against them in the Champions League last year and you see something on TV and then when you meet it is completely different," Haaland said.
"I didn’t touch the ball for 25 minutes and it is like, Gundogan, please stop playing tiki-taka! It is a different level how they play and that is what I want to be a part of."
A day later, with City due to resume pre-season training and Haaland set to meet his teammates for the first time, Gundogan took to Twitter to respond to Haaland's comment.
Quoting Haaland, Gundogan said: "From now on it’s one touch only," with a winking emoji.
"Welcome to Manchester, [Erling Haaland]", he added.
City will train this week in Manchester, before flying to the USA on Saturday to begin a short pre-season tour that will see them face Club America in Houston next week, and then Bayern Munich in Green Bay.
They then return to England for the Community Shield in Leicester against Liverpool, before Haaland will hope to make his competitive debut on the opening Premier League fixture at West Ham on August 7.
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