Another Erling Haaland transfer rumour appeared on social media on Thursday, claiming that the Norwegian is considering leaving City at the end of the season and sees Barcelona as a possible destination.
The claim was shared by the Transfer News account on X and, naturally enough, caught our attention. We went looking for something more substantial to support it but could not find a single source we would regard as sufficiently credible to suggest Haaland is currently planning to leave City next summer.
The story appears to have originated in Spain before being picked up elsewhere, but that does little to strengthen it. Haaland signed a contract until 2034 only last year, and there is nothing concrete to suggest he is preparing to walk away from it. So this isn’t a story claiming Haaland wants to leave City. It did, however, provide some food for thought.
City will eventually have to answer the Haaland question
Haaland is only 26 and remains at the heart of Enzo Maresca’s plans. He has five goals in five appearances already this season, including both in Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League victory at Porto, and Maresca described him as a more “complete” player and person earlier this week.
Replacing that sort of output would be an enormous task, but City know better than most that even their greatest players eventually have to be replaced. Sergio Aguero was once considered irreplaceable and Haaland turned out to be a rather good answer.
Maresca made the same point when discussing Rodri’s move to Barcelona last month. He recalled Kevin De Bruyne following David Silva, Haaland succeeding Aguero and Rodri taking over from Fernandinho before neatly summing up City’s approach.
“When they leave, you need to be good and recruit the next one,” he said.
City have just had to put that theory into practice following Rodri’s departure, and there is no reason to think Haaland is about to follow him. His contract gives the club considerable protection, and the evidence for this latest Barcelona story is far too flimsy to suggest otherwise.
But succession planning does not start when a player asks to leave. City will know that better than anyone, particularly after a summer in which several huge figures from the Pep Guardiola era departed.
Perhaps the interesting part of Thursday’s rumour, then, isn’t whether Haaland is leaving next summer. There is nothing credible at present to suggest he is. The more interesting question is whether City already know what they will do when that day eventually comes.
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