Erling Haaland’s future, the continuing fallout from City’s derby winner and some remarkable Enzo Fernandez numbers have provided plenty to discuss on Tuesday.
There has inevitably been more debate around Sunday’s win at Old Trafford, although attention is now beginning to move towards Thursday night’s Carabao Cup meeting with Norwich at the Etihad.
Here is today’s City news and talking points.
Barcelona and Real Madrid believe Haaland could consider Spain
Barcelona and Real Madrid reportedly believe Erling Haaland could consider leaving City for Spain in 2027.
TEAMtalk’s Graeme Bailey reports that both Spanish giants are looking towards a possible move, although there is no suggestion Haaland has asked to leave. The striker signed a new City contract in January 2025 which runs until 2034, while the club have subsequently insisted there is no contractual clause enabling him to leave.
For now, it remains transfer speculation rather than anything more concrete.
VAR officials stood down
The two VAR officials involved in the controversial decision to allow Haaland’s Manchester derby winner have been stood down following the error.
Matt Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus have not been appointed to matches after Pro Ref acknowledged that VAR should have recommended an on-field review of Enzo Fernandez’s possible interference from an offside position.
Haaland himself was onside. The issue was whether Fernandez, who attempted to play the ball as Lisandro Martinez defended it, interfered with play.
Extraordinary derby replay suggestion
Former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett went considerably further, raising the possibility of Manchester United demanding a replay and pointing to a previous case in Belgium.
There is no indication United have made such a request and the prospect of the Premier League ordering a replay appears extremely remote. Doing so because of an acknowledged refereeing error would create an extraordinary precedent.
Fernandez numbers underline derby contribution
The controversy around the winning goal should not obscure the performance Fernandez produced during more than an hour with City down to ten men.
The Guardian’s analysis showed that the £125m midfielder covered more than 10.25km at Old Trafford and recorded twice as many sprints as any other midfielder on the pitch. No City player won more duels or made more interceptions either.
One performance cannot settle the debate around a £125m transfer, but it was an impressive afternoon from Maresca’s major summer signing.
Attention turns to Norwich
City can now begin moving on from the derby, with Norwich visiting the Etihad on Thursday night as Maresca’s side begin their defence of the Carabao Cup.
The third-round tie kicks off at 7.30pm BST and comes only four days after City played more than 67 minutes with ten men at Old Trafford. That leaves Maresca with decisions over how heavily to rotate, particularly with Sunderland visiting the Etihad in the Premier League three days later.
Nico O’Reilly is available again after returning from his back problem against United, while Jeremy Doku remains City’s only confirmed senior injury absentee ahead of Maresca’s Wednesday press conference.
Five huge wins over Norwich
The clubs have not met since February 2022, but Norwich have suffered some fairly spectacular defeats against City over the years.
We looked back at five huge City wins over Norwich, including the 7-0 at the Etihad in 2013, the 6-1 at Carrow Road during the 2011/12 title run-in and two separate 5-0 victories.
Norwich have already won away at MK Dons and Cardiff to reach the third round, so Thursday provides Maresca with another test as City begin their defence of the trophy.
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