Pep Guardiola Wants Erling Haaland To Stay At Manchester City

Erling Haaland is rumored to have left Manchester City (Instagram/@erling.haaland).

JAKARTA - Manchester City and Erling Haaland have yet to reach an agreement on a new contract. This situation has made the Norwegian striker rumored to be joining Real Madrid.

According to Transfermarkt, Haaland's contract at Etihad is actually still long, until June 2027. However, the club needs to fence off its biggest asset because at any time giant clubs could propose to him with a more attractive offer.

Regarding these turmoil, Pep Guardiola as Manchester City manager actually wanted Haaland to stay at the Etihad.

He emphasized that he loved the 23-year-old striker.

"What do you think? We don't want Erling to stay here for a decade? To be honest, yes, we want him to stay at this club for a long time. We fell in love with him."

"First, it is an honor for important clubs to want our players, but in the end it is the players who decide."

"However, of course we want to keep our best players. We need good players," Guardiola said as reported by The Sun.

Rumors of Haaland and Real Madrid are getting stronger after rumors of the Norwegian player not feeling at home in Manchester.

However, the gossip was denied through Haaland's interview with Manchester City last week. He revealed how comfortable it is in Manchester.

"I'm a football lover. For me and my family, it's easy to come, right across the sea, very close."

"I love the vibrations, the positive attitude of the fans when I meet them is also British society in general."

"I like to joke like them. We are similar in Norway, we like to joke at him. People see us on the streets, United fans, we joke with each other."

"The first season for me was the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup. We went back to pre-season and it felt like, 'Are we back yet?'"

"It took a few months to digest it. I want to repeat some of the things we did last season," said Haaland.

Haaland set a record 52 goals in all competitions last season or his debut season for Manchester City.

This season, he had an acen for two months due to injury so he was later linked to Real Madrid.