Erling Haaland has starred for Manchester United since joining them last summer.
The striker has managed 31 goals [and three assists] from 27 matches in all competitions this season and it includes four hat tricks in the league.
AS visited the Manchester City star’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, in Monaco for a detailed chat. During the course of the interview, she was asked how much is 22-year-old worth today.
“We made Pogba for €80m and everyone said… It’s incredible! Today many are worth it. Neymar’s €222m is at the top… The numbers change. For me, Haaland is worth €1bn,” she said.
“Maybe nobody is going to pay that, but it is the potential he has when he arrives at a club. With him come fans, goals, sports results, professionalism, digital content, notoriety, sponsors… If you put all of these together, your value is an aggregate of many things. But the price of a footballer is actually set by a club.”
“I know that nobody is going to pay €700m for a player, but I am very clear the value that Erling adds when he arrives at a club is immense, at least €1bn.”
Prior to joining Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona were among the clubs to have shown interest in the Norway international.
Recent reports in Spain suggested Los Blancos could return for him in 2024, when his reported release clause would come into effect.
Pimenta has neither confirmed nor denied the reports of Haaland having a release clause. Pep Guardiola had earlier insisted there is no clause and the agent has now refused to respond to the Cityzens manager’s claim.
When asked will here her client end up in La Liga, Pimenta explained: “My hope is that he is always happy wherever he is. And today he is very happy at City.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll have to think about it. It is not positive for a footballer to play one season thinking about the next. It’s like you start thinking about your next woman the day you get married (laughs). Today, Haaland is married.”
“It’s true [difficult for him to have a key to the door] and not so much, because as a lawyer I have to prepare the possibility that if you need the key, you can have it.”
Pimenta has backed the Manchester City player to break records when asked about his ceiling.
“His top is in a place that is not yet known in football. He is the peak of the modern player. He will go further than those who came before him because of everything we now know about the human body, the possibilities of training, nutrition… He will break all records,” the agent stressed.
