ERLING HAALAND’S agent has warned that every top player still sees Real Madrid as football’s “Dreamland” club.
Haaland’s goal exploits for Manchester City have kept Pep Guardiola’s side in the title race.
The Norwegian signed a five-year deal when he arrived from Dortmund last summer.
But while his agent, Brazilian Rafaela Pimento, said that the Prem is most players’ league of choice, even the top flight’s brightest outfits remain outshone by the lure of the Bernabeu.
Pimento told the FT Business of Football summit in London: “Erling went to City because there was such a history of his family with the club.
“You’ve seen the pictures of him as a kid wearing a City shirt so it’s only natural he would want to experience what his father experienced.
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“And also of course above that, very much above that, is that he wanted to play for Pep Guardiola.
“But when we have a player, we make plans. Even if the player is 15-years-old. We are planning out his career trajectory.
“When I started in this business, if I would say to a player ‘I’ll bring you to England’ the first thing they would say would be ‘what did I do wrong? Why don’t you like me?’
“Now, if I ask a player ‘what is your goal?’ he will say the Premier League.
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“He doesn’t say City, Chelsea or Arsenal but the Premier League.
“This is the place to be for an agent because it is the place the players want to be.
“It’s a fantastic league. It’s competitive. Every game is a challenge. Everybody wants to watch it. They want to be here.
“But there is the Premier League. And there is Real Madrid.
‘THE DREAMLAND’
“And Real Madrid has something of its own that makes it the Dreamland for the players.
“Madrid keeps this magic going. It doesn’t have the league competition but it does have the Champions League.”
Pimento, who formerly worked alongside the late super-agent Mino Raiola, also revealed she had been forced to fight against sexism to make her way in football.
She added: “If Margaret Thatcher had been an agent, they would question her. She could run a country but not be a football agent.
“In football, many men think they are the only ones that know how to do things and believe you use your gender as a way to make you feel insecure.
“They try to demoralise you because you are a woman.
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“I’ve been insulted and called names, told that I know nothing, by club executives, trainers, other agents, players’ friends.
“There’s always someone who will say ‘she’s a woman – what does she know?’ But I’m still here.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
