Haaland admits doubt over long-term City future

Knowing full well that he was about to make headlines, Erling Haaland said he was happy at Manchester City, but admitted his future remained up in the air.

“I’m really happy, especially with the people that I’m surrounded with; the manager, the directors, the board, they are a group of amazing people and I’m really happy, I have to say," the 23-year-old Norway forward said ahead of City's Champions League date with Copenhagen. "If I say this now, it’s probably gonna be a massive headline: tomorrow you never know what the future brings, but I’m happy. You can write this but you also have to write everything I said before. I’m happy."

His comments will do little to quell speculation that he is interested in joining Real Madrid and neither will his unwillingness to broach the topic of a new contract.

“My focus mainly now is on the pitch,” Haaland said. “There’s a lot of games: two days ago was the Manchester derby, now Champions League, Sunday is Liverpool. I think I should focus on that. I don’t think I should focus on anything else at the moment."

Haaland is under contract for three more seasons after the current campaign.

The son of former City midfielder Alfie Haaland, Haaland joined City ahead of last season's treble-winning campaign.

In 22 league games this season, Haaland has 18 goals, taking his goal total in England to 54 in 57 games.