A decade is a long time in football. Nine-and-a-half years back from the 2024/25 season, Leicester City were crowned Premier League champions, Southampton finished three points from qualifying for the Champions League and Liverpool and Chelsea were reeling from finishing eighth and tenth in the table, respectively.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United – in the days before their Saudi overlords – were left to ponder relegation to the Championship as were Aston Villa. On the continent, meanwhile, Barcelona – with their front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez intact – won the La Liga title, scoring 112 goals in the process. Cristiano Ronaldo would not be denied, however, as he guided Real Madrid to the Champions League trophy as the tournament’s top scorer.
So, yes, nine-and-a-half years is a long time in football. It’s a span in which the sheer fabric of the game can be altered beyond recognition. All of which confirms the remarkable gamble that Manchester City are taking in handing Erling Haaland a new contract that will keep him at the club until 2034. Yes, the Norwegian is a goal machine today, but will he always be?
What happens if he suffers a serious injury, or has a falling out with Pep Guardiola (or whomever his successors may be)? In an era of closely-scrutinised football accounting, tying up an asset that may well depreciate in value for such a long time – on a mammoth salary, no less – is an extraordinary risk that even the creative accountants at Manchester City might struggle to justify in the years ahead.
Haaland’s New Deal

The Norwegian has put pen to paper on a new contract at Manchester City that will keep him at the club until the end of the 2033/34 season – a full nine-and-a-half years from now. Haaland will be 34 years old at that time, so will he still be banging in the goals as he heads for the latter years of his career?
As part of his new deal, City have also removed various release clauses that could have seen Haaland leave the club should certain parameters have been met. Although the exact numbers aren’t known, it has been reported that the contract will be one of the most lucrative in sporting history. His previous deal saw Haaland pick up £375,000 per week, as well as a host of other bonuses linked to performances and goal scoring.
It’s good tidings all round. City get to keep one of their prized assets for, in essence, the rest of his career, while Haaland… well, he gets to enjoy being one of the best-paid sportsmen on the planet. But for some City fans, there might just be a few alarm bells ringing. As we’ve learned, nine-and-a-half years is a long time in football, and the game – let alone a single player – can change beyond all recognition in that timeframe.
The Longest Contracts in Football

Of course, contracts are broken all the time in football. The free movement of players in the transfer window, when a fee is agreed by a buying and selling club, means that a contract’s length is no big deal. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be. The danger to that occurs if the player loses their form completely. Imagine if Haaland simply loses his knack for scoring goals. As hard as he tries, he’s unable to recapture former gloriesand City make the tough decision to move on and buy a new striker.
They will likely need to sell Haaland to balance the books. But he’s earning, say, £400,000 per week guaranteed until 2034. If he can’t secure a deal elsewhere for anything like that kind of money, he’d be in no rush to leave, putting City in the unenviable position of owning an unsellable asset that is depreciating in value year on year.
‘Lifetime’ Contracts
Some clubs have issued ‘lifetime’ contracts to their players, such as Barcelona to Andrés Iniesta and Real Madrid to Raul and Iker Casillas. But that’s more of an ambassadorial thing; ensuring that the club and the legendary player in question retain close ties even after their boots have been hung up for the final time.
Chelsea are another club to hand out lengthy contracts to their players. But that’s been as part of their gaming of transfer rules, spreading the fee paid over the entirety of the deal using a loophole known as ‘amortisation’.
Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez
When Enzo Fernandez joined the Blues on a nine-year agreement, that was to ensure his mammoth £107 million transfer fee was spread evenly across nine seasons for accounting purposes… enabling Chelsea to spend more on new talent while still staying within PSR financial rules.
But for City and Haaland, there’s no accounting trickery or PR gimmicks going on. This is a club taking a chance that the player will remain world class for years to come; that his form won’t drop, that he won’t suffer catastrophic injury and that, even if he does, he will still have enough residual value to be sold on.
Seeing It Through

As footballers, there’s very little in the way of similarities between Haaland and former Chelsea and Netherlands defender, Winston Bogarde. But City fans will be hoping that their messiah does not follow in the footsteps of the Dutchman, who was determined to see out the entirety of his lucrative contract at Chelsea, whether the club wanted him to or not.
Because that’s the other downside to long-term contracts in football: a player is not legally obliged to accept a transfer elsewhere, and can simply sit out their deal when it’s financially savvy for them to do so, as Bogarde found in the early 2000s.
Chelsea boss, Claudio Ranieri, didn’t rate the Dutchman or like his attitude very much, but could not find a buyer for the left back – or, at least, one willing to match his £40,000 per week contract. So, Bogarde stayed for the entire four-year duration of his contract, playing just 12 games for the club and banking in the region of £13 million.