Erling Haaland release clause changes nothing for Man City

Erling Haaland has certainly done his talking on the pitch since arriving at Manchester City.

In the weeks that followed City's announcement of their £51m signing and all throughout pre-season, there was constant debate about how Haaland was going to fit in at his new club, with plenty of sceptics questioning his suitability to a Pep Guardiola team.

Twenty goals in his first 13 matches for the club has gone a long way to pushing those doubts into the background, but there is one topic that some have tried to use to pour water on the Haaland-mania that has engulfed the blue half of Manchester.

On Tuesday the news that many City fans feared most was confirmed: there is indeed a release clause in Haaland's City contract. The Athletic broke the news that there is a €200m (£175.5m) release clause clause in the five-year-deal the 22-year-old signed with the club that will become active in the summer of 2024.

Not only that, the sum will decrease - no values have specified as of yet - from 2024 onwards, until the end of his contract in 2027. The stand-out condition of the clause is that it can only be activated by clubs outside of the Premier League.

On first glance the news appears to pave the way for Haaland to move to Real Madrid, even if the clause is not Madrid-specific as some had reported in recent weeks. Los Blancos were City's main competitors for Haaland's signature, and now they know the specific price they would have to reach to avoid drawn out negotiations.

However, when you think about it, the situation is actually no different to how City usually conduct their transfer business. In recent years Guardiola has made it crystal clear that any player can leave the club should they so wish, as long as they bring a suitable offer to the table.

City did not want to sell Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus or Raheem Sterling, but they stuck to their word once a suitable offer dropped into their inbox. If come the summer of 2024 Haaland wants to leave, then the same would apply to him - only now City have put the offer they deem suitable into writing.

In fact, having a non-Premier League release clause might be even better than having no clause at all. In an ideal world City would not have sold Jesus to Arsenal and Sterling to Chelsea, what with both being Premier League title rivals. The only English side that might have been able to afford Haaland's fee, wages and agents fees is Chelsea, but because of the clause there is now next to no chance that Haaland joins a direct league rival, unless they offered well over the release clause value.

The term 'release clause' can sound a little scary, but City supporters need not panic. Such clauses are fast becoming the norm in elite football, and in this instance, it actually benefits City.