Pep Guardiola says he is not allowed to discuss Erling Haaland’s prospective move to Manchester City given a deal for the Borussia Dortmund striker is yet to be confirmed.
City are expected to announce the £64million signing of Haaland this week after the striker passed a medical in Brussels on Monday.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said the signing would take City to “new levels”, but Guardiola was unsurprisingly coy, and also apologetic, when asked about the transfer.
“Everybody knows the situation, but I should not talk because I do not like to talk about the future and next season,” he said, ahead of City’s match against Wolves on Wednesday.
More on Erling Braut Haaland
“At the same time I should say something, but Borussia Dortmund and City told me I’m not allowed to say anything until it’s completely done, I’m sorry.”
Asked about what input he has on transfers, he added: “I would love to talk, honestly, but I can’t. They told me [not to] for the legal actions. We will have time to talk. Not because I don’t want [to], but I can’t.”
Gabriel Jesus has enjoyed a late flurry in front of goal this season, scoring seven times in the past eight games, but the Brazilian has been the subject of a reported move away from City this summer.
On the prospect of signing a new No.9, Guardiola stressed one player does not solve everything.
“We have a No.9,” Guardiola said. “We have, I guess, new players in the squad coming from the academy definitely. You know, the new players always help, but not one striker is going to resolve our scoring problems that maybe we have.”
Erling Haaland is ‘not normal’
By i Northern Football Correspondent Mark Douglas
In the small commuter town of just 12,000 people where Erling Haaland grew up there are few signs that this is the place where a superstar’s journey began.
Bryne is a few hundred miles south of Stavanger, the oil centre of Norway. It’s an old farming community where the winters can be harsh but the community is tightly-knit and values are shared. If you want to know how Haaland ended up on the verge of a £64m transfer to Manchester City as one of the best paid footballers on earth, here is a good place to start.
“In this part of Norway we don’t speak much, we just work. Our values are how you work tells you what you’re made of,” says Alf Ingve Berntsen, Haaland’s youth coach at Bryne FK from the age of 8 to 16.
Read Mark Douglas’ full interview with Alf Ingve Berntsen here
Earlier in the day, Leeds United manager Jesse Marsch backed Haaland to become one of the wolrd’s best players and joked that he wished the forward was returning to his hometown.
“Erling Haaland is destined to be one of the best players in the world. It’s his quality but also his talent,” Marsch said.
“I wish he was coming home to Leeds, his birthplace. I understand the decision to go to Manchester City. He can play any style of play but certainly I think it makes Manchester City, one of if the best teams in the world – if not the best, even better.”
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