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Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has said that striker Erling Haaland will remain at the club next season.
Haaland, 20, is under contract at Dortmund until 2024, but a clause in his contract allows him to leave the Westfalenstadion for a fee significantly below €100 million in the summer of 2022.
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This year, the transfer fee for the Norway international is subject to negotiations, but the Bundesliga club remain hopeful they will be able to hang on to the in-demand striker for another year.
Last month, sources told ESPN that BVB will only entertain an offer of €180m for Haaland this summer but CEO Watzke expects the striker to stay for another year.
“I have the clear expectation that Erling Haaland will play for us next year,” Watzke told Sport Bild. “And I don’t waste any thoughts on anything else.”
When asked whether a phone call from Barcelona or Real Madrid could change the situation, he added: “I think they know about the contract situation and our stance there as well.
“I am just totally relaxed. Nobody believed us with Jadon Sancho last summer until deadline day, and he’s still with us today.”
Haaland’s agent Mino Raiola held talks with Barca and Madrid last month to discuss a possible transfer, but Watzke said the club had been informed about what he called a “self-marketing” trip.
“You could of course start a game of ping-pong and attack each other in public every second day,” Watzke said, adding that he had no interest in it and the roles were clear.
“You either have a model where you sign a player and then let him go again or you don’t have it. We can live with it and feel well because we know the contract situation, which helps us a lot.”
Bayern Munich executive Oliver Kahn also ruled out a move to sign Haaland this summer after he was linked with the Bundesliga champions and seen as a successor to Robert Lewandowski.
“A package which, from all I hear, would cost more than €100m is inconceivable for FC Bayern,” Kahn told Bild, citing the financial situation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.