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Manchester City star Erling Haaland has agreed the longest contract in European football, signing a new deal that will run until 2034 and be one of the most lucrative in the sport.
The Norwegian striker, 24, joined City from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for a fee of €60mn, and has since scored 111 goals in just 126 matches. His arrival helped the club to win its first Champions League title in 2023, a season in which the team also won the Premier League and the FA Cup.
Haaland’s new contract is the longest in Europe’s top five leagues, according to figures compiled by Transfermarkt, breaking the previous record set by Chelsea duo Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson, whose deals run until 2033.
He was already one of the top paid players in the Premier League, where stars earn hundreds of thousands of pounds a week.
City did not disclose how much Haaland would be paid but the length of the deal and his high salary mean it is almost certain to be the most lucrative contract in English football history.
The lengthy deal is part of a new trend in English football imported initially by Chelsea FC’s US owners. Long contracts can be used to spread out the initial costs of signing a player, while new deals often remove or alter certain arrangements — such as buyout clauses — to make it harder for a top player to be lured away by a rival.
City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain said of Haaland: “He has made an incredible impact already in his time here and his amazing numbers and records speak for themselves.”
Contracts of a decade or more are common in US sport: a new record was set last month when Dominican baseball player Juan Soto agreed a 15-year deal worth $765mn with the New York Mets.
While City has been the dominant club in English football in recent years, winning six Premier League titles in the past seven years, it has been struggling this season. It is currently sixth in the league table, 12 points behind leaders Liverpool.
The contract extension for one of the world’s top players comes as City awaits the outcome of its long-running legal battle with the Premier League. An independent panel is due to publish its verdict in the coming weeks on whether City broke financial rules over several years, as alleged by the Premier League. City has denied any wrongdoing.
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