Erling Haaland saw the window opening on his future and rather than slam it shut, he gave it a gentle nudge, letting more air in and giving the speculation room to breathe. The Manchester City striker was holding court in a press conference before the Champions League last-16 second leg against Copenhagen last month and was asked, given the constant speculation about his future, whether he had everything he wanted at City.
At first he talked glowingly about being "really happy, especially with the people I'm surrounded by. The manager, the directors, the board, I am really happy, I have to say". This was the perfect moment to end his answer there and then, but Haaland paused for a second and changed direction.
"I say this now, it will probably be a massive headline, tomorrow you never know what the future brings, but I am happy. You can write this but you also have to write everything I said before. I am happy."
This was the Norwegian being polite yet assertive at the same time. He is enjoying himself at City, he wanted to make that very clear. But he was also making it clear that City was not his final destination.
The next question was about whether he was going to sign a new contract with the club, an opportunity to knock the speculation into the sunset. But he opted against taking it and let it linger. "My focus is mainly now on the pitch, there's a lot of games... so I think I should focus on that."
The next game for Haaland to focus on is Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg away to Real Madrid, one of the few clubs he could realistically leave City for. Two years after rejecting a move to Santiago Bernabeu to follow in his father's footsteps to the blue half of Manchester, the landscape has changed at Madrid. So would they still want to sign him?
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