"Haaland is ready to take the next step in his career"
Lothar Matthäus feels that the striker's time at Dortmund has started to reach its conclusion. "They should be happy to have had him," he added.
Every single declaration referencing Erling Haaland and his future is front page news. And Europe's top clubs, including Real Madrid, take each and every one of them on board with the idea of putting the puzzle together and make a move for the Norwegian when the time is right. The date when Haaland will be out of contract, June 2022, is already marked in Madrid's diary - landing him would be icing on the cake if the club brings in Kylian Mbappé, an operation planned for next summer.
German football legend, Lothar Matthäus, who was recently included in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, has hinted that the time when Haaland will be looking to move on from Signal Iduna Park is drawing closer. "The positivity that he radiates is reflected in the team and for that reason, I think that the moment has almost arrived; Haaland will play no more for Borussia Dortmund and will take the next step. He's ready for it and we are proud to have him in the Bundesliga".
It's interesting to note that Matthäus spoke about Haaland in the past tense, as he continued: "Dortmund should be grateful to have him because he is a striker who fits perfectly into the team". Haaland's agent, Mino Raiola and Borussia Dortmund have a verbal agreement in which the German club agreed to facilitate the player's departure in 2022, as AS reported recently.
"Haaland is irreplaceable"
Matthäus believes the sky is the limit for the striker: "He's 20 years old, and he's a goal machine - for a striker, he just flies. He brings positivity to the team as well as scoring goals. He's irreplaceable. Erling Haaland is considered at Dortmund in the same way as Robert Lewandowski is at Bayern Munich: a forward who is not just responsible for scoring goals, but for pulling the team forward with him. He's already a leader at 20 years of age.
"All of that says it all about him," he continued. "He knows what he needs to do. He drops back to help out in defence too - that is something which I really enjoy watching Lewandowski do too. He is not just a regular, run-of-the-mill striker. The way he thinks, for a young lad of 20 years... He doesn't just think about himself, he thinks about the whole team".