Premier League clubs are on red alert following reports that Erling Haaland could leave Borussia Dortmund in January.
The Norway international has been the subject of transfer interest throughout the summer, but Dortmund have continually maintained that he would not be leaving Signal Iduna Park in this window.
Manchester United, Manchester City, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich are just some of the clubs who have nevertheless been linked with Haaland in recent months.
The 21-year-old will still be a Dortmund player beyond the transfer deadline of 11pm BST on August 31.
He has long been expected to seek pastures new in the summer of 2022, when it was thought that a release clause of around £64m would come into play.
But according to Marca, that buy-out clause could in fact become active in the January transfer window.
The Spanish outlet reports that Haaland agreed to spend two years at Dortmund when he joined the club from Red Bull Salzburg in January 2020.
Marca claims that a clause in the striker's contract made it clear that he would be free to seek a move away from the club from 1 September 2021 onwards.
This coming January will mark two years at Dortmund for Haaland, and he might not stay any longer than that.
Given that competition for his signature will be fierce, we can expect at least one club to test the water at the start of 2022.
Dortmund will not want to lose their star man in the middle of the season and will do everything they can to keep hold of him until next summer.
It could ultimately come down to legal detail and it is hard to predict an outcome without knowing the full extent of the release clause on his contract.
Even so, Dortmund supporters will be concerned to learn that there is a possibility that Haaland could be available for transfer in a little over four months' time.
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