Erling Haaland played key role in one Manchester City signing this summer

Posted Thursday, September 08, 2022 by Caughtoffside.com

Erling Haaland spoke to Manuel Akanji about following him to Manchester City this summer, according to Fabrizio Romano in his exclusive CaughtOffside column.

The Norway international played alongside the Swiss defender at Borussia Dortmund, and Romano says they spoke about the prospect of a move to the Etihad Stadium towards the end of the summer.

Akanji ended up making the late move from Dortmund to City, with the pair reunited in Manchester after their spell together in Germany.

Romano says this kind of thing is very common in football, particularly in the social media age, with the transfer news reporter also explaining how Chelsea defender Thiago Silva spoke to Richarlison this summer, but failed to persuade him to join him at Stamford Bridge, with the Brazilian forward instead moving from Everton to Tottenham.

"I've spoken on my YouTube channel about Thiago Silva trying to talk Richarlison into joining Chelsea. It didn't work out with this particular case, but it's very common in football for players to get involved in these situations," Romano said.

"It always happens, really in 90% of the cases, and social media has played a part, for sure.

"Another example – Erling Haaland spoke to his old Borussia Dortmund team-mate Manuel Akanji about Manchester City in the last week of the transfer market but the truth is there are hundreds of other examples I could give."

Haaland has made a terrific start for City, scoring 12 goals in his first eight games for the club, and it seems he's useful off the pitch as well as on it!