Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is prioritizing a move for Erling Haaland following confirmation that Sergio Aguero will be leaving the club at the end of the season, according to BBC Sport’s Simon Stone.

Guardiola had planned to bring in a new striker before the announcement of Aguero’s impending departure. However, finally resolving the future of the club’s all-time leading scorer has reportedly cleared the way for City to strike one of the biggest transfers of the summer.

Signing Haaland amid interest from a host of other sides and before his €75-million release clause can be activated in the summer of 2022 could be difficult, Stone understands. A recent report stated that Haaland’s club, Borussia Dortmund, had slapped a €180-million price tag on the Norwegian.

For those reasons, City have drawn up a list of alternative options.

Harry Kane’s future is the subject of much speculation as the 27-year-old is yet to win a trophy with Tottenham Hotspur and possibly has room for one big transfer in his career. The Spurs and England captain seemed to keep his options open during a recent press conference with his national team.

“I’m fully focused on doing the job on the pitch from now until the end of the summer, and then we’ll see where we go from there,” he said last Saturday, as quoted by Sky Sports.

Kane would cost approximately £150 million, according to a FourFourTwo story cited by Steven Railston of the Manchester Evening News. His Tottenham contract expires in 2024.

Former Manchester United marksman Romelu Lukaku is also linked with Manchester City. Stones believes the Belgian would be a more attainable target for the Premier League leaders due to the current financial issues of Inter Milan’s ownership group, Suning. Lukaku has scored 42 goals in 62 Serie A appearances since moving to Italy in 2019.

Robert Lewandowski will miss around four weeks after he suffered a knee ligament injury during Poland’s 3-0 win over Andorra on Sunday, Bayern Munich announced.

The striker is expected to be sidelined for both legs of Bayern’s Champions League quarterfinal tussle with Paris Saint-Germain, and he’s also set to miss Bundesliga matches against RB Leipzig, Union Berlin, Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkusen, and Mainz.

The 32-year-old was already ruled out of Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against England before Bayern learned the extent of his injury back in Munich.

Lewandowski scored twice for Poland in the weekend fixture before he exited in the 63rd minute. He scored 16 goals over his last 10 outings for club and country and has an overall record of 47 strikes in 43 appearances over the 2020-21 campaign.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting or winger Serge Gnabry are likely to get minutes spearheading Bayern’s attack in Lewandowski’s stead.

Signing Erling Haaland was never going to be cheap, but now interested clubs have a clearer picture of what it’s going to take to acquire one of the world’s most coveted young superstars.

Borussia Dortmund have placed a €180-million price tag on the exciting forward in a move that appears to be designed to scare off potential suitors, according to ESPN FC’s Stephan Uersfeld and Rodri Faez.

The biggest clubs in Europe – such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich – have been linked with the Norwegian international over the past year.

However, Dortmund hope their valuation will ensure the market will be quiet this summer and that Haaland will stay at the club for at least one more season, Uersfeld and Faez report.

Haaland opted to sign with Dortmund instead of Manchester United in January 2020 after the Premier League side refused to include a release clause in his contract. Dortmund agreed to the clause, which does not become active until the summer of 2022.

The 20-year-old has gone on to star for the Bundesliga club, scoring 49 goals in 49 matches since his arrival from Red Bull Salzburg.

Haaland has 32 goals in 31 games this campaign for a struggling Dortmund side that sits fifth in the Bundesliga. If the club fails to qualify for next season’s Champions League, keeping Haaland could be a much harder assignment.