The Man City contract clause that gives Haaland the key to Real Madrid move

It has been reported that Erling Haaland doesn’t have a release clause in his new Man City contract, but AS understands this isn’t the case.

“I say this now, it will probably be a massive headline,” Manchester City striker Erling Haaland said last year, when asked about links with Real Madrid. “Tomorrow you never know what the future brings”.

This was the most recent occasion on which Haaland, who this week signed a new, nine-and-a-half-year deal with City, offered a public nod to Los Blancos. A club he has always wanted to join, Madrid have never left the Norwegian’s radar.

At that point, in March 2024, Haaland’s extension talks with City were already underway and Kylian Mbappé had announced he was leaving Paris Saint-Germain. Although it was an open secret that Mbappé would end up at Madrid, the transfer was yet to be confirmed, and Haaland still retained a glimmer of hope of fulfilling his dream of pulling on the white shirt that summer.

Haaland still has “key to the door” at Man City

The 24-year-old has always made sure to leave the door to a Madrid move open. On the advice of his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, Haaland has consistently sought to keep the key to his future in his own hands. And that hasn’t changed now, despite the fact that he has penned a long-term contract at City.

Although initial reports in the UK have stated that Haaland’s new City deal does not include a release clause, this newspaper has been told by reliable sources that the player can leave the Etihad Stadium from around the halfway stage of his agreement, in exchange for a significant sum. Without such a get-out option, indeed, there is no way the Norway international could have signed on with the Premier League champions until 2034.

How much is Haaland’s City get-out clause?

Haaland’s exact buy-out fee has not emerged, but what is known is that it is set to come into effect from summer 2029 or 2030, and would dropping in size as the player goes deeper into his contract.

“I am in favor of freedom,” Pimenta told an interview with AS in February 2023. “It is my battle. I always say that one of my priorities as an agent is to offer the player what I call ‘the key to the door’. When the player goes to a club, I do everything to create the conditions so that the key to the door is in his hands. And if tomorrow you can’t stand being there anymore because you don’t like it, or they don’t pay you well, or because your wife wants to live in Paris? Well, you’re leaving, aren’t you? I don’t like when my player is not free to decide.”

While a Haaland move to Madrid has not yet materialized, this has been down to factors other than the player’s own wishes; he has always been keen to go to the Bernabéu.

In summer 2022, Haaland chose to join City from Borussia Dortmund on the advice of his then-agent, the late Mino Raiola, who did not see eye to eye with Madrid president Florentino Pérez. Their relationship had earlier broken down after failed talks over a previous Madrid target, the French midfielder Paul Pogba. At the time of Haaland’s move to the Premier League, Madrid’s focus was on their pursuit of Mbappé, and Raiola felt the Norwegian’s career development would be better served at City, where he was likelier to be the main man in attack.

Finances have also proved a major stumbling block to a Haaland move to Madrid. The player owns 100% of his image rights, but at the Bernabéu players are expected to share them with the club.

In addition, Los Blancos already have two players with ‘galáctico’ pay packets - Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior both earn around €15 million ($15.5 million) a year after tax - and are likely to have a third in the near future. In the wake of his impressive impact since joining Madrid from Dortmund in summer 2023, Jude Bellingham is eager to join Mbappé and Vinícius in the squad’s top salary bracket.