There were contacts with Barça. Of course, but I also told my agents not to get too excited. I was very clear that Athletic were not going to let me leave if a club did not come and pay the €40 million of the termination clause.
I had lunch with Sam Allardyce, but he thought it was a better idea to talk about wine than to talk about football, and then to get up and leave me halfway through our meeting.
one of the objectives of the meeting was to secure a preferential purchase option for Haaland in case the Norwegian decides to leave City in the future.
Huge amounts of work happens behind the scenes via scouts, sporting directors, agents, and intermediaries, to determine if a player is the right fit for their club, both in terms of what they can offer on the pitch, and if they're a realistic and affordable target.