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Manchester City star Erling Haaland's entourage reportedly laughed at rumors linking the striker with a move to Real Madrid in the summer (via @centregoals).
It seems unlikely that the Norway international would move to the Spanish capital, with France superstar Kylian Mbappe set to join Los Blancos from Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season (via GOAL).
Haaland arrived at the Etihad only a year-and-a-half earlier from Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of €60 million. Since then, he's broken the all-time goalscoring record for a player during a single Premier League season.
The 23-year-old managed to score 36 times in 35 league matches last season. He also won the treble as City lifted the UEFA Champions League, the Premier League, and FA Cup titles.
More importantly, Haaland continues to play a pivotal role for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Despite missing 12 matches across competitions due to injury this season, he's amongst the goals for the Cityzens.
He has notched up 17 league strikes in 20 matches while finding the net on five occasions in the UEFA Champions League. Most recently, he scored his side's winner in the 1-0 victory over Brentford on Tuesday (February 20).
Expect him to start when Manchester City travel to Bournemouth for a Premier League fixture on Saturday (February 24).
Pep Guardiola makes Erling Haaland claim after Manchester City's Brentford win
Manchester City managed to bounce back with a win against Brentford after playing out a 1-1 draw against Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday (February 17).
Haaland came under a fair bit of criticism after he failed to convert from seven shots that he took against the Blues. With the striker redeeming himself in the win over the Bees, Guardiola said after the match (via BBC Sport):
"With top scorers or strikers who score a lot of goals, don't criticise because he will shut your mouth, that's for sure. Sooner or later, he is there. Definitely, if I have to choose one [player to be running through on goal], I choose this one."
"He was out with injury for two months and is not in his best shape and just had an incredibly tough week because he lost his grandmother. That is not easy for a human being," Guardiola added.
Manchester City are now four points behind league-leaders Liverpool, who have played a game more. They've also got Arsenal to deal with, who sit in third and only a point behind the Cityzens.
