Erling Haaland is focused purely on playing for Manchester City and is not concerned by the possible punishment the club faces, according to his father Alfie.
City were found guilty of breaching the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-year period and are awaiting the outcome of an appeal. An independent commission found the club guilty of 114 of the 115 charges, saying they had used "sham" contracts to disguise funding of more than £830 million.
Father's insight into striker's mindset
Haaland has reportedly been calming his teammates down about the potential consequences, and his father has given an insight into the striker's mindset. "Erling thinks about playing as much football as he can and concentrates on that. I think it's more those of us outside the pitch who think a bit more about it," Alfie told Viaplay.
"Well, it has been circulating for quite a while, hasn't it? So finally something came that was concrete, which it is possible to fight against for City as a club. Obviously, these are serious allegations, but now there is an appeal case pending to be heard, so I think we have to stay calm, keep our cool, and wait to see how it turns out."
Appeal and fairness concerns
Asked whether he felt it would be unfair to punish the current players over financial irregularities that occurred between 2009 and 2018, Haaland Snr replied: "Yes, in a way, one might feel that having to potentially take punishment for something done many years ago… yes, I would say so."
Asked if he knew anything more about the appeal, Alfie said: "Nothing more than what's in the media. And there is an awful lot written there, and very one-sided, I would say, right? Because it's hard for Manchester City to come out right now – with an ongoing appeal – and defend themselves. So we hope they get a fair hearing, and then we'll see if they manage to prove that they are innocent, eventually. Now we just have to wait and see. I think they've done more than well to stand tall through this, because of course they have faced plenty of accusations. So I feel the player group has handled it very well."
He added: "We also have to remember that these are things that allegedly happened quite a few years ago. The players today had nothing to do with it. So they've played well. They lost their last match, so it's time to get back to winning ways."
