Manchester City chief Ferran Soriano has recently been discussing new addition, Erling Haaland.
Haaland is the Sky Blues’ first major signing of the summer window, being brought in from Borussia Dortmund where he came close to scoring a goal a game.
City met the £51m release clause in Haaland’s contract and he will join Kevin De Bruyne as the club’s highest-paid player on around £400,000 a week.
And despite some criticising Man City’s spending, Soriano believes the transfer figure spent on Haaland is reasonable:
“We are evolving to a time when the big players can choose, and Haaland has chosen us,” he said. “You have seen the transfer figures, and they are very reasonable. The salary we are paying him is what we can afford and what he is entitled to.
“Our focus is on football, on playing well and winning, rather than on star players. And we lacked a centre forward. We had someone spectacular like Agüero, we lost him [last summer] because of his age, and we have spent more than a year looking for a replacement and Haaland is it. We will introduce him soon.”
In the same interview, Soriano claimed that Haaland will have to change the way he plays to adapt to Man City’s style and system:
“We are sure Haaland will work at City,” the City chief executive told Catalan radio station RAC1. “There will be some time to adapt and patience is needed, but the physical, technical, talent and mentality he has, we are sure he will succeed. He will have to change the way he plays a bit to adapt to our style and system.”
Given Haaland is accustomed to playing in a counter-attacking side that is set up to allow him plenty of space to run in behind, lining up for Man City may indeed require an adjustment period on the Norwegian’s part.
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