Erling Haaland left Borussia Dortmund and joined Manchester City for £51.2 million in the summer of 2022. The Norwegian was outstanding for Dortmund, scoring 86 goals in 89 appearances. Despite his impressive displays from Haaland, it turned out that his departure from Dortmund was surprising especially because the transfer fee was ridiculously cheap. Learn why City signed Halaand for such a cheap price.
Now, let’s dwell on the main reason why Haaland left Borussia Dortmund.
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5 Reasons Why Haaland Left Dortmund
1. Football Aspirations
Due to the fact that Dortmund couldn’t compete with top clubs in Europe to achieve silverware, Haaland had to make a move to Manchester City which turns out to be a more ambitious club with a much higher chance of winning trophies. Haaland had high aspirations as a football player and his aspirations are already paying off as he has already won four trophies with few individual awards in his first season at Manchester City.
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2. Self Improvement
As talented and gifted as Haaland is, the young striker chose to move to Manchester City to further improve his skills and play under a world-class manager in Pep Guardiola. Regarded as the best and most competitive league in the world, Haaland could develop rapidly in the English Premier League.
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3. Higher Wages
With Man City’s higher financial capabilities, they were willing to offer Haaland a weekly wage of around £850k per week which also includes bonuses and sponsorship extras as opposed to the £132k that he was earning at Dortmund.
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4. Release Clause
Haaland had a release clause in his contract with Dortmund which enabled him to leave the club for a predetermined fee. Manchester City easily secured its services by meeting the required financial terms as a result of the release clause.
5. Dortmund’s Financial Position
Due to the financial challenges faced by Dortmund, the club may have needed to sell Haaland to raise funds to improve the financial situation.
Dortmund’s Reason For Selling Haaland
Borussia Dortmund signed Erling Haaland in 2019 from Red Bull Salzburg for around £17 million. He spent two and a half seasons with the club and won the 2021 DFB Pokal while scoring 86 goals in 89 games.
Although Haaland produced impressive results, Sebastian Kehl, Dortmund’s Sporting Director, believed that the club did the right thing by selling him to Manchester City and did so at the right time.
Kehl went further and stated how his popularity became a “problem” in the dressing room and the club as a whole.
Sebastian Kehl made this statement at the beginning of the 2022/23 season when Dortmund’s first 10 goals came from 10 different players which supported his claim that Haaland’s departure was a relief to the team.
Ironically both clubs met at the Champions League group stage. The first leg at the Etihad ended 2-1 in favor of Man City with Haaland with the winning goal while the second leg ended goalless at the Signal Iduna Park.
Dortmund’s first season without Haaland saw them finish second in the Bundesliga after missing out on the opportunity of winning the league on the final day of the season to archrivals Bayern Munich.
Haaland, on the other hand, went on to win the iconic treble with Manchester City in his debut season, scoring 52 goals in 53 appearances – smashing multiple records and winning individual honours in the process.
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Conclusion
To cap it all up, the most important reason why Haaland left Dortmund was Dortmund needed the money plus Haaland wanted a big move. Other reasons are stated in the article but these two are the most
At the end of the day, Erling Haaland’s departure to Manchester City from Dortmund didn’t bring about any form of regret from both parties.
Haaland’s still scoring for his new club and Dortmund is still at the level they were before selling the Norwegian.
