Borussia Dortmund chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke has aimed a dig at Man City following their move for his club’s striker Erling Haaland.
The reigning Premier League champions are making their summer transfers early. A statement from City has confirmed a deal with Dortmund for Haaland after they reportedly activated the Norwegian’s £51 million release clause. Haaland passed a medical in Belgium on Monday, so the deal awaits the agreement of personal terms.
According to The Mirror, the striker will sign a five-year contract, earning £400,000 per week. On top of this, the deal may include performance-related bonuses. If Haaland signs, he will follow in the footsteps of his father Alf-Inge Haaland by playing for the blue side of Manchester.
In Germany, the Norwegian attacker’s goal record has been phenomenal. In just 88 appearances for Borussia Dortmund, Erling Haaland has scored an incredible 85 goals and provided 23 assists. His otherworldly ability made him a hot prospect for Europe’s elite.
Understandably, City fans are incredibly excited at the prospect of signing one of the best talents in world football. Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund fans and officials are not so happy.
Borussia Dortmund CEO makes dig over Erling Haaland move
In an interview with CNN, the German giant’s CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, made a snide remark about Man City’s financial might. Watzke conceded that losing players to richer clubs is just a part of football.
“That’s the only way for us because when a player performs very well, we have to fight against the big, big, big clubs with the oligarchs and the Arabian states at their back,” he said.
“And this fight we cannot win, but we can win a fight over an 18-year-old player, like Jude Bellingham, because this player loves to play at Borussia Dortmund as we have always 80,000 spectators. It’s a very good atmosphere, and the club knows how to manage young players.”
Although the obvious target of the “oligarch and Arabian states” dig was Manchester City, Watzke may have been referring to other teams too.
What teams could Watzke be referring to?
The obvious candidates are Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. The government in the United Arab Emirates back Man City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour. Similarly, Qatar Sports Investments own PSG and they are a state-financed sports company.
These two sides rose to the top of European football through aggressive spending in the transfer market. Furthermore, both City and PSG were the main favourites to sign Erling Haaland.
Another club heavily linked to the Norwegian striker were Real Madrid. Although not funded by an Arabian state, the Spanish giants have received help from the Spanish government in the past. In fact, the European Court of Justice forced Madrid to pay back aid that authorities gave them illegally for over 25 years.
However, despite the backing from nations, these sides are still generating monumental money. In the Deloitte Football Money League, Man City finished top with Real Madrid in second. They had both made over 640 million euros in revenue. Meanwhile, PSG were sixth in earnings – making over 550 million.
Read: Patrice Evra takes savage swipe at Man City and Pep Guardiola after UCL exit.
To say Dortmund cannot compete financially would be true. Although they are twelfth on Deloitte’s table, the German side had profits that were hundreds of millions of euros lower than the top clubs.
Maybe Hans-Joachim Watzke made a valid point.
Featured image credit: Getty
