Erling Haaland is taking Man City into a new transfer realm

Despite their heavy spending in the last 14 years, Manchester City have never truly gone in for marquee signings. The purchase of Robinho in the first flush of the takeover in 2008 was something of an exception, a statement move to announce that the Blues were about to arrive as a force in English and European football.

Arguably, the arrival of Carlos Tevez a year later was along the same lines, but even he was not a global superstar, despite winning a couple of league titles and a Champions League with Manchester United. Since then, City have gone for players who, while top professionals, hardly made a ripple in terms of being icons: Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Ruben Dias. It explains why, until they splashed a £100million British record on Jack Grealish, they did not figure in the top 30 of most expensive signings of all time.

While others targeted huge names like Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Eden Hazard, City shopped at the next level down, and built an impressive squad by doing so.

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But the impending arrival of Erling Haaland changes all that. The 21-year-old may not have won any World Cups or Champions Leagues, but his goal record makes him a phenomenon, a figure whose name excites interest around the planet.

And the irony is that, due to his contract release clause, City will land him for much less than United paid for Harry Maguire.

As long as he slots in to Pep Guardiola’s team without fuss, Haaland will not just replace Sergio Aguero as the main source of goals for the team, he will also become the poster boy, in the same way as Kun was. In a week when City are set to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Aguero’s 93:20 moment, it is worth