Rafaela Pimenta’s interview, Haaland’s agent, with this newspaper sheds a lot of light on the striker’s situation Norwegian who has 25 goals in his first 19 games played with City in the Premier League. Without responding specifically to the million dollar question, if Haaland has a clause that can release him from Guardiola’s team in 2024, It does make it clear that, according to his modus operandi, all his players have a clause in their contract that allows them to leave if necessary. On this basis, the following are the keys to the hypothetical signing of Haaland by Real Madrid.
Yes, there is the release clause
It was an open secret. A news from The Athletic that put the world of football on alert just after Haaland arrived at City. “There is a termination clause” of between 180 and 200 million euros that can release Haaland from his contract to go to another team from 2024, said the American media. Later, Guardiola’s words, in which he denied the existence of that clause, completed the information: “That clause of the contract is only for foreign teams, not the Premier.”
In any case, the interview with Rafaela Pimenta serves to show that everything indicates that yes, that this clause exists: “I am in favor of freedom. 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 it when my player is not free to decide”, says the super agent. “I have done all the contracts for this agency in the last 25 years. All. There was not one time that a player said ‘I want to leave’ and he couldn’t do it, ”she completed.
Madrid’s performance
After the signing of Haaland by City was made official, according to the information handled by AS, andhe Real Madrid has not contacted the agency that represents the Norwegian again. It’s normal, he’s only been at City for a few months and it’s unthinkable that a move will take place in the short term. In this way, the white club is not yet aware that this clause really exists. You haven’t even made the relevant inquiry.
In any case, the first thing Real Madrid should do if they want to go after Haaland in a season or two is to convince the player. Now it is a chimera to think what the situation will be at that moment. Two possibilities are considered. May Haaland reach the top, may he win the Champions League and be the Ballon d’Or, or may he do poorly. It seems clear that the former will occur. And in this case, two other questions arise: whether the fact that he reaches the top of him will cause Haaland to want to look for a new challenge in LaLiga or that he prefers to stay to continue winning.
The sports project is vital… and the most economical
Real Madrid will not only convince Haaland with good words. The Norwegian’s family, and especially his father, carefully examine the sporting project at every step the player takes. But also the economic aspect. The only way to compete with what City may be paying Haaland for Real Madrid is to give him a higher percentage of his image rights. Madrid’s rule with other players is to share the cake 50%. In the case of Haaland, it can be a lot of money. The player and his agency are about to announce the biggest private sponsorship in the history of the sport, a brand that will accompany the Norwegian for years to come. And then, shortly after, the brand that will dress him will be announced (he has been playing without a logo on his shoes for months).
“For me”, said Rafaela Pimenta in AS, “Haaland is worth 1,000 million. Maybe nobody is going to pay that, but it is the potential that he has when he arrives at a club. With it 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 700 million for a player, but I am very clear that the value that Erling adds when he arrives at a club is immense, at least 1,000 million”.
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Haaland’s agent has a very radical vision of the future for football, based on the progression of new technologies and the metaverse: “Have you tried a 3D virtual experience? Is incredible! This is going to change football. It’s going to give people who can’t afford it the chance to travel and watch a game. What’s more, to be inside it. I tried the United experience and it’s like being on the pitch watching the players go by. You are playing with them! “.
For Mrs. Pimenta, The key is knowing when the clubs will start to be able to monetize all these new technologies: “Travis Scott’s Fortnite concert was one of the most popular in history, with more than 12 million attendees. No stadium can accommodate this amount of people. I hope that the clubs can monetize these experiences, that a Colombian can enjoy the Bernabéu without leaving home. This for me is fantastic, it is the future. It has been shown that the physical emotions of heartbeat, blood flow and body heat that the virtual experience gives you are the same as those that the real experience causes you. And I return to your question. How much is Haaland worth? It depends on where the technology goes…”.
Barcelona is lurking
Watch out for Real Madrid with what Barcelona can do. A great key to the matter is the bargaining power that Real Madrid and Barcelona have to win the game. It is evident that Mino Raiola had much more feeling with Barcelona than with Real Madrid. The white club must recover that ground. “I always say that Laporta can’t ask me for anything in football, it’s not fair, because he knows I’m going to say ‘yes'”, Said with sincerity in AS Rafaela Pimenta, who does not know in depth Florentino Pérez: “José Ángel introduced him to me, but I have not been able to deepen the relationship. We have friends in common, like Galliani. They all respect him a lot. I can imagine that he is a great man and he deserves all the respect. I have an empathetic relationship with José Ángel, although we only did Areola in the past. But of course, Madrid is football itself. Everything is nice there. Where you eat, where you sleep, the stadium, the training center… But this is actually something common to all the big clubs, City, Bayern, Barcelona…”.