Erling Haaland signed through to 2034 in January 2025 on a deal reported to be worth around £260m. The headline figure most often attached to him is £500,000 a week. The headline figure is not what he would actually receive if City were relegated.
According to reporting by the Daily Mail that has run through this week’s coverage of the verdict, City’s standard player contracts are built on three parts: a basic wage, a Champions League qualification bonus, and a further bonus tied to the percentage of achievable minutes played across a season. The minutes-played bonus is only valid in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
In the Championship, those competitions are gone, and so is the bonus they trigger. The same reporting puts basic salaries at 60 to 75 per cent of total pay, which would leave somewhere between a quarter and 40 per cent of Haaland’s weekly earnings exposed to a demotion.
Contract offers no exit route
Haaland’s contract does not contain a relegation release clause. Read Man City reports that the squad’s wages are “fully guaranteed, meaning their salaries would remain unchanged even if City lose their top-flight status”, but there is no mirror provision allowing the player to leave if the club drops down.
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Club sources went further in reporting by TeamTalk in late September, insisting “no such clauses exist, either for Haaland or other members of the squad.”
Sports lawyer Dan Chapman, speaking to SPORTbible, set out the legal position in plain terms.
“If City were relegated…it does not follow that by virtue of that players will be able to walk away from the club,” Chapman said.
He added that a negotiated relegation release clause was theoretically possible, but called such provisions “quite unusual.” Employment KC Paul Gilroy told the same outlet the only route out would be an argument that the club had breached the implied term of trust and confidence between employer and employee, a high legal bar.
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French Football Weekly reported that Haaland, asked about an exit linked to a possible relegation, “indicated that he was not aware of it.” Barcelona and Arsenal have been among the clubs linked to him over recent weeks, but the contract architecture leaves no obvious door open on his side.
Sanctions still to be set
The Premier League’s independent commission ruled against City on 114 of 115 charges covering alleged financial breaches between 2009 and 2018. The club has lodged an appeal and remains publicly confident it can overturn the ruling.
Sanctions have not yet been set. The possibilities under the league’s framework range from fines and points deductions through to title stripping and automatic relegation. For now Haaland’s £500,000 a week continues to arrive in full. If the appeal fails and the harshest punishment lands, the basic wage keeps arriving, and up to 40 per cent of the headline figure stops.
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