Manchester City yesterday completed the acquisition of 21-year-old Norwegian striker from Borussia Dortmund, Arling Braut Holland, one of the two most wanted players in the world.
The transfer amount reported by the media is only 60 million euros.
When it comes to a player whose market value is 2.5 times greater, and at least ostensibly it seems to be a dream deal for the Citizens.
Well, far from it.
We are talking about a deal whose full cost for Manchester City will be close to 300 million euros!
Before we explain exactly how we got to the crazy amount, we need to give the credit to Mino Raiola, the super agent who passed away last week.
Unfortunately he will no longer get to see how his ingenious plan was realized down to the last detail.
Raiola was Holland's agent and he was the one who carefully planned his path in football.
When Dortmund acquired the Norwegian Bull Salzburg uprising in December 2019, they paid a ridiculous sum for it - 20 million euros.
Many people then did not understand the meaning of the petty amount.
So true - few believed that the Netherlands would become the second best scorer in the German league after Robert Lewandowski, and yet the amount was ridiculous for someone who scored 28 goals in his first 22 games in the Dortmund uniform, including 6 goals in the Champions League.
The reason became clear immediately.
Although the contract in Dortmund was for 4 and a half years, it had a critical clause: by the end of the 2021-22 season, the release clause will be only 60 million euros.
This is not a small amount, but the cunning Raiola estimated that within two years the talent would be worth double, and even more.
And he was right.
On the "Transfer Market" website, which specializes in valuing players and is considered very reliable, the Netherlands is valued at 150 million euros.
The highest in the world after Killian Mbabane, estimated at 160 million.
So how did we get to almost 300 million?
Well, in addition to the € 60 million Dortmund will receive, Raiola's heirs will receive a € 50 million agent fee. A thousand Inge Holland, the striker's father and former Manchester City player, will receive a € 40 million fee.
The Netherlands have signed a 5-year contract and his salary will be about 25 million euros a year (similar to the salary of the team star, Kevin de Bruyne), ie about 125 million euros for the entire contract period.
We have reached 275 million euros, which is ahead of the fat bonuses guaranteed to the Netherlands for team titles and individual titles.
And he will almost certainly have many of these.
Erling Haaland, new Man City player 🔵⭐️ #MCFC
▪️ Manchester City will pay € 60m [not € 75m] release clause to BVB, plus commission to be added.
▪️ His salary will be worth £ 375,000 / week, same level as de Bruyne.
▪️ Medical has already been completed.
The saga is over.
🤝 pic.twitter.com/Qzf3HNDVhN
- Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 10, 2022
Will change the football map
Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp said even before the deal was officially agreed: "It was clear to me that City would continue to develop. Everyone is talking about this transfer in the financial context, but it is clear that it will also set new professional standards."
Undoubtedly, this is more than a new acquisition player.
The Netherlands is a player capable of changing the world football map.
He joins one of the two best teams in England, and perhaps in the world, one that has so far failed in its main goal: winning the Champions League.
The question every football fan asks himself is whether the Netherlands will fit the style of play of Pep Guardiola, who has been playing without a striker for almost two years, since Sergio Aguero was injured and lost his place in the squad, at the beginning of last season.
The truth is that City is doing quite well without a classic 9-point striker.
She won the championship last season and will probably win this season as well, qualifying for the Champions League final a year ago and this season reaching the semi-finals.
City have scored the most goals in the Premier League this season (89 vs. 87 for Liverpool), and last season scored 10 more goals than their runners-up, Manchester United (83 vs. 73).
In Pep's method, the goal-scoring craft is divided between a great many players, knots, extremists and also defenders and brakes.
But on the other hand it's no secret that Pep wants a striker.
He really wanted Harry Kane last summer, and when Tottenham were by no means ready to sell, he tried to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
The move exploded at the last minute, when Manchester United persuaded the Portuguese to return to where he started his career in England.
Keep in mind - Guardiola is not a regular coach.
He loves to change, diversify and innovate.
It is part of who he is, and in his previous teams he had key strikers: Samuel Eto'o in Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski in Bayern Munich and Sergio Aguero in City.
Wanted a classic striker,
True, each of them is a different player.
Holland is different too, but he is also young.
He is only 21 years old and it will be relatively easy for him to adapt to City's method of play.
Guardiola demands of all his players, including the strikers, to participate in the dedication game, to assist under pressure.
Arling will adapt himself, but on the other hand will give City the option to play in a slightly different method as well.
With a strong, fast and deadly goal striker.
In his 23 Bundesliga games this season the Netherlands have kicked 65 times for goal out of 150 touchdowns on the pitch, meaning 43 per cent (36 out of 150 kicks were per frame, 24 per cent).
City's four main attacking players this season (Mahrez, Hassos, Sterling and Puden), touched the ball 601 times in the opponent's court this season, but only kicked 165 times for goal - only 27 percent.
The gaps are clear.
Holland's numbers in the Bundesliga are monstrous.
This season he has scored 21 goals and added 8 assists in 23 games: an average of a goal or a touchdown every 62 minutes.
Since coming to Dortmund he has scored 61 goals in the league and cooked up another 19. That means he is involved in 80 goals in 65 games!
City will be happy if he maintains his psychic average in the Champions League: 23 goals in 19 games.
And of course it is impossible without the Israeli point.
Father "Alfie" Holland played three years at Manchester City.
In July 2000, a few days after Charling was born, City paid Leeds £ 2.5 million and signed the tough Norwegian midfielder. Gray, but a very nice person. "
Now he is also very rich, even more than yesterday.
Berkowitz.
Played with Dad, Photo: Getty
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