Haaland Q&A: How much is the deal costing Man City?

Manchester City have agreed to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund for €60m (£51.1m), here Sky Sports News' chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol answers all your questions about the deal... Why is the Haaland fee relatively cheap?

When he left Red Bull Salzburg in January 2019, whoever was going to sign him had to agree to have this release clause in his contract - €60m in the summer of 2022. He was available then for €20m, which is about £18m. Manchester United were very keen to sign him, but wouldn't agree to have this release clause in his contract. Whereas it made sense for Dortmund to sign him for €20m, he scores loads of goals for them, and he leaves two-and-a-half years later for €60m. So they make a €40m profit.

But for a club the size of Manchester United you can't have one of their star players having a release clause that is only €60m, one of their rivals could come up and sign him. That's the reason he is going for a relatively cheap fee, this release clause. He was effectively using Dortmund as a stepping stone and I don't think a club like Man Utd would have accepted being used as a stepping stone. You have to say Haaland's agents are being clever.

If you've got a really good young player, you've seen young players going to the Bundesliga in Germany because it's a great stage. You are going to get to play in one of the best leagues in the world, you're in the shop window, you can develop playing first-team football and you increase your value. We saw with Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham, and Haaland as well.

I think all of these agents are thinking about the next move. When they have a great young player, they hear of interest from Real Madrid or Barcelona, but sometimes those moves don't make sense