With Liverpool leading Manchester City by 12 points in the Premier League and still having a game in hand, Pep Guardiola's side is set to splash the cash in January, including bringing in Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt. But it has made a big Erling Haaland statement too.

Today, Manchester City confirmed that Haaland has agreed a nine-and-a-half-year contract extension. It represents one of the biggest sporting contracts of all time and will keep the Norwegian in England for the vast majority of his career. There is a release clause that comes into effect in 2029, according to Fabrizio Romano, but it is a "very high number".

Such a lengthy deal is unusual in soccer and Haaland is signing on record terms for Manchester City, making it a colossal financial commitment of more than $180m. It comes amid the wait for the outcome of the 115+ charges leveled at the Etihad side by the Premier League, too, with a verdict yet to emerge and the consequences of being found guilty potentially enormous.

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With Liverpool having big contracts to sort out too in the form of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, this is a reminder of the economic power that Manchester City has. It might have fallen behind in the title race this season, but is clearly gearing up to put that right as quickly as possible.

While Liverpool negotiates with Salah and Van Dijk, who are 32 and 33 respectively, Manchester City has committed to paying huge money to Haaland until he is almost 34 — almost a decade in advance. It is impossible to know how he will be physically so far into the future.

Under Arne Slot, Liverpool has barely spent in the transfer market and is yet to work out the futures of three key men. While there is still clearly time for the contract stand-off to be sorted out at Anfield, the importance of doing so is only underlined by Haaland's mega deal showing that Manchester City is unafraid to go big.

Guardiola penned a new deal to oversee the rebuild not long ago but this is even more of a statement considering the length of the commitment. It is in that context that Liverpool is trying to compete — showing why it must make the most of Manchester City being so far behind in the standings this season, and why making a contract breakthrough with its own talismans is vital.