Manchester City want to make Erling Haaland their top earner - despite him being described as a "burden in the dressing room".
Haaland, 22, has scored 42 goals in just 37 appearances for Pep Guardiola's side since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund last summer. Despite his good form, City are eight points behind leaders Arsenal with a game in hand in the Premier League title race.
Some critics have pinned City's indifferent results on Haaland's style of play, but Guardiola is set to debunk that theory by offering the player a big new contract. Several top European clubs would love to take the Norwegian off City's hands, including Real Madrid.
As reported by The Sun, City are determined to stop Carlo Ancelotti's European champions from signing their prized asset by offering him a new £500,000-a-week contract. That would make the Leeds-born striker the Premier League's highest earner.
Haaland's contract does not expire until June 2027, but City want to reward him by increasing his salary from £375,000-a-week. If signed, his new deal will run until June 2028.
Haaland is likely to win the Premier League's Golden Boot this season, with City after three trophies. Guardiola's side want to become the first team since Manchester United 24 years ago to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same term.
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City will play Sheffield United in the semi-finals of the FA Cup next month, while their quarter-final opponents in Europe are Bayern Munich. Despite this, not everyone is convinced that Haaland has improved the reigning Premier League champions.
"City were a better team without Haaland, even if he scores 40 goals this season," tweeted former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann in January, while Dortmund's sporting director Sebastian Kehl called him a "burden in the dressing room" in September.
Kehl told Bild, "In the end, the Haaland issue became a burden in the locker room. As much as we always loved Haaland and he was successful with us, in the end, he became a burden on the dressing room, the club and the whole environment.
"He had become the subject of every conversation. Outside the club, almost everything was exclusively focused on him. In the end, the timing of the transfer was right for both parties. And we are all happy for Erling that he continues to be so successful."
Yet Kehl did admit that Dortmund "would like to have him still with us" and called Haaland a "really good guy". City certainly agree with the latter part of that statement, as Guardiola's side try to stop Real from completing their so-called 'Operation Haaland' plan.
City won the race for Haaland's signature last summer, but the threat of a move to Real or Barcelona will always be there. Haaland's agent Rafaela Pimenta recently admitted, "Madrid, they have something of their own that is also the dream for the players."
