Erling Haaland’s camp are not entertaining talk of a move to Barcelona, even after Paul Scholes predicted that is exactly where the striker would end up if Man City were relegated.
The Erling Haaland exit chatter has picked up again this week, fuelled by City’s long-running financial case and a couple of former Manchester United midfielders thinking out loud on a podcast. But the people closest to the 26-year-old are taking a far calmer line.
According to AS, sources close to the Norwegian are unwilling to discuss any potential departure while nobody knows whether Manchester City will receive a sporting sanction, or when it might take effect.
What have Haaland’s camp actually said?
The short answer is: very little, and that is the point. His entourage are not concerned by the growing speculation and do not see the sense in weighing up hypothetical transfer scenarios while City’s appeal is still unresolved.
There is no sign that Haaland has decided to push for a way out, or that he has told his representatives to explore a move to Spain. No negotiations have started with Barcelona or Real Madrid. Instead, the plan is to look at the situation properly once there is real clarity over the disciplinary proceedings.
Scholes and Butt fancy a Barcelona switch
The fresh noise started with Scholes. Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, he was asked where Haaland would play if City were sent down, and he went straight for the Catalan club.
Scholes said: “Barcelona. He looks like a Real Madrid player, I can picture him perfectly in a Madrid shirt, but he’ll go to Barcelona.”
Nicky Butt joined in, suggesting Haaland’s father, Alf-Inge, might already be thinking about his son’s longer-term options. Neither of them offered any evidence of an agreement or an active transfer process, though. It was two pundits picturing a future, not a leak.
Barcelona have been linked with Haaland plenty of times before, with earlier reports claiming he could favour them over Arsenal if City’s situation forced him to rethink his future. Real Madrid were also mentioned during the summer.
Could Haaland leave Man City if they are relegated?
Not easily. Haaland signed a 10-year extension in January 2025 that ties him to the Etihad until June 2034, and there is no publicly confirmed relegation release clause that would let him walk away automatically.
City also publicly rejected suggestions of a supposed release clause when the striker’s name came up during Real Madrid’s presidential election campaign in June. Any club wanting him would still have to deal with City.
And relegation itself is still hypothetical. An independent commission found in September that City committed serious breaches of financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18, along with failing to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation. City lodged their appeal on 1 October, insisting the findings contain significant errors of law, principle and fact, and they continue to deny wrongdoing. Any sporting punishment would be decided separately, and nothing has been confirmed. We looked at why that wait is dragging on in our piece on the integrity chief’s defence of the slow-moving panel.
In the meantime Haaland’s focus is on the pitch, with the striker back in Norway training after shaking off some small knocks during the international break.
Haaland to Barcelona? Not while the verdict is still out
This is the sensible stance, and frankly the only one that makes sense right now. Nobody at City, in the Premier League or in Haaland’s camp knows what the punishment will be, so any talk of where he lands is guesswork dressed up as news.
What matters is the contract. A deal to 2034 with no confirmed escape route gives City huge leverage, relegated or not, and any club chasing him would be looking at an enormous fee. Scholes may well be right that a Barcelona shirt would suit him one day, but for now Haaland’s future is tied to how the appeal plays out, and his people are wise to say nothing until it does.
