Man City FFP: Carragher asks top lawyer if Liverpool can sign Erling Haaland on a free – the result will shock you
Jamie Carragher has been given a surprising answer when asking a top lawyer if Liverpool could explore a potential free transfer for Erling Haaland amid Manchester City’s FFP chaos, while the stricken Cityzens have been warned they face losing a glut of star players for ‘well below’ market value.
The eight-time Premier League champions are caught up in the biggest storm in the competition’s 34-year history, having been found guilty of 114 counts of financial irregularities.
And while it is important to note that Manchester City continue to protest their innocence, and TEAMtalk, in conversation with a top sports lawyer, has revealed they plan to take their case all the way to the High Court in a bid to clear their name.
However, with speculation rising over the level of sanctions they will likely face – with expulsion from the Premier League and potentially even pitting the club right out of the EFL altogether all on the table – the expectation is that the club will also be forced to bid farewell to a number of their leading stars as a result of the sanctions.
One of those likely to be in huge demand is Haaland.
The Norwegian is one of the most formidable strikers the league has ever seen, and he’d have no shortage of takers were he to leave the Etihad.
Sources have told our transfer correspondent Graeme Bailey that Haaland’s next destination is likely to be LaLiga.
However, pundit Carragher is also dreaming of seeing the 26-year-old move to Merseyside and, when asking a top lawyer if a free-transfer move was possible despite Haaland’s lengthy contract at the Etihad Stadium, a surprising answer came back…
READ NEXT: Erling Haaland release clause bombshell as Man City reject relegation fears after FFP charges verdict
Haaland to Liverpool? It can’t be ruled out….
When appearing on the Stick to Football podcast, KC Paul Gilroy was asked by Ian Wright: “Paul [Gilroy], can I just ask a quick one, you know, with the individual players and a player that he’s in the club, he doesn’t know anything that’s going on, but now they’re talking about taking away all this, has he got a case [against Man City]?”
KC Gilroy responded: “Definitely. Good question on that, on the player’s perspective. Every contract of employment, whether it’s a footballer or someone who works in a shop, has got an implied term in it, in other words, a term that’s not written down, and the implied term we’re talking about here is the term of trust and confidence.
“So if I work for you, you and I must have sufficient trust and confidence in each other to enable that relationship to work. If you don’t trust me or I don’t trust you, or you call me a liar and a thief on a Tuesday, I can’t work for you on a Wednesday.
“Trust and confidence. Now a player could say ‘You have breached the implied terms of trust and confidence, you are my employer; you have acted in breach of that term, and that entitles me to say I’m ripping up my contract and I’m walking out’.2
Carragher then quipped: “So Liverpool could sign Haaland for free next week?”
And while the comment drew a few laughs from his fellow pundits, Gilroy responded: “That is a possibility; I’ve seen commentators saying [it is] unlikely; it depends on so many things. What’s the club going to say to the players? How do they sort it out financially? Etc. etc., but arguably, it’s certainly a possibility.”
Man City facing player exit Armageddon
While free transfers certainly seem a little far-fetched, and a scenario you can bank on City avoiding, the club has been warned that they do face the prospect of losing a number of their top stars for fees way below market value if they are demoted down the leagues, a former Premier League CEO has warned.
And according to Everton’s former chief executive, Keith Wyness, City could be powerless to prevent the exits of a plethora of their top stars, indicating that market forces would enforce their exits for discounted fees, despite expelling myths that relegation clauses will exist in City players’ contracts…
“You’re absolutely right that there wouldn’t be release clauses, but this proves the point once again, and I learned the lesson the hard way that there should always be relegation clauses in contracts,” he said.
“We know that there are deep resources within the ownership. However, they’ll also have to look at this pretty professionally and look at it as a business situation. And they will see enormous wage pressure.”
Backing up our claims that several Premier League and European vultures will already be watching events at City with intent and with the hope of picking up some elite stars at a reduced rate, Wyness revealed the level of discount clubs can expect to get.
“So I would expect there to be about a 25 to 30 per cent discount over what the market value of these players would be.”
TEAMtalk sources have already looked into where the likes of Rayan Cherki could end up, while academy graduate Phil Foden is also attracting serious interest.
Liverpool would also consider rekindling moves for Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo – two players they missed out on to City earlier this year.
