Erling Haaland can help Man City in Premier League title race this season

Manchester City fans have been getting steadily giddier about seeing Erling Haaland every week from next season since a report in Saturday's Mail said a deal was in place to sign the Dortmund striker.

The club are cautious - having been burned before in the transfer window and knowing they are battling with the biggest sides in the game to sign Haaland - yet they have also not gone out of their way to shut out the noise. Since the weekend, talk of City signing the superstar has only grown louder.

Haaland's arrival would obviously add more intrigue to the contract situations of three forwards already in the squad. Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus all see their current deals expire in the summer of 2023 and there will likely be no talks to change that before the end of this season.

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Given Haaland would reduce their chance of minutes in the team, and more so than he would the younger Phil Foden or the recently-signed Jack Grealish, all three are well within their rights to think very carefully about where will be the best option for them to play their football this season.

And yet it is important to note two things. One is that Haaland, should City win the race for him, will finish this season with Dortmund. He will play no part in the latter stages of the Champions League, FA Cup or Premier League.

The other is that the squad at City is full of players who are willing to fight for their place in the team. Jesus had to directly battle with one of the world's best strikers in Sergio Aguero for years, Sterling has been scrapping since Pep Guardiola tried to sign Alexis Sanchez in 2017, while Mahrez has risen to the challenge of proving