Manchester City set to open contract talks with record-smashing Haaland

Manchester City are reportedly preparing to open talks with star striker Erling Braut Haaland over a new contract.

The 22-year-old has broken records for fun since touching down at the Etihad last summer and brought up 50 goals for the season in Sunday’s 2-1 Premier League win over Fulham.

Haaland picked out the bottom corner with aplomb from the penalty spot to record a half-century of strikes, becoming the first player in English football to do so for 92 years.

The former Borussia Dortmund man has already broken the record for the most goals in a 38-game Premier League season, and his spot kick at Craven Cottage marked his 34th top-flight goal of the campaign.

Haaland has thus drawn level with Alan Shearer and Andy Cole for the most Premier League goals in a single season of any length during a phenomenal year, propelling Man City back to the top of the table at Arsenal’s expense.

Despite tying the Norway international down to a five-year deal last summer, Football Insider claims that Man City are already set to discuss an extension to Haaland’s contract until 2027.

Upon his £52.6m arrival from Dortmund last summer, Haaland is believed to have agreed to a £150m release clause, which clubs would have been able to trigger in 2024.

Links with Real Madrid began to resurface as a result, but with manager Pep Guardiola recently signing a new contract of his own, that nine-figure clause has been rendered null and void.

The report states that the Premier League champions intend to tie Haaland down for another two years until the summer of 2029, by which time he will be 29 years old, and the striker is happy in Manchester and willing to discuss an extension.

It is unclear if City will include any sort of release clause in the Norwegian’s new deal, but the Citizens want to ensure that their Premier League rivals cannot poach Haaland in the same manner that they did in 2022.

Haaland’s latest strike has seen him move onto a remarkable 50 goals in just 44 appearances across all competitions, becoming the first player competing in the English top flight to score half a century of goals in a single season since Tom ‘Pongo’ Waring for Aston Villa in the 1930-31 campaign.

City’s No.9 has also surpassed former Tottenham Hotspur striker Clive Allen who netted 49 goals in all tournaments during the 1986-87 season.

In addition, the 22-year-old – who recently broke the Premier League scoring record in a 38-game season – has drawn level with both Andy Cole and Alan Shearer for the most goals ever scored in a single Premier League campaign (34).

Both Cole and Shearer netted 34 times in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 campaigns respectively, which were both 42-game seasons, while Haaland has reached the same goal tally after just 29 matches this term in a 38-game campaign.

Haaland will be looking to break the all-time Premier League scoring record in a single season when Man City welcome West Ham United to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.

Dixie Dean’s record of 60 league goals for Everton back in 1927-28 appears to be safe, though, but his all-tournament scoring record of 63 goals in 41 games during the same season could potentially come under threat, with Haaland’s City side still to play a minimum of nine fixtures across three competitions this season.