Haaland

Erling Haaland is one of the hottest young prospects in soccer right now. The 21-year-old Norwegian is showing astonishing results, as he managed to score 85 goals in 88 games for Borussia Dortmund and has already scored over 150 goals in his short career. Many big clubs tried to sign him, but it was Man City who prevailed. On May 9 shocking news was announced. Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City made an agreement about Haaland’s transfer. It may sound like a win for Guardiola, but various experts have questioned this decision. Will Erling Haaland really fit in the Guardiola’s team?

Man city’s tactics and classical striker

  After Sergio Aguero arrived on 20/21, Guardiola was trying to sign a new striker. One of the candidates was Tottenham star Harry Kane, but the transfer failed. Since then, City operated without a classical striker and Pep was mostly using false-nine tactics. And it has to be mentioned that this approach was working perfectly. City was successful in winning the carabao cup and Premier League title, reaching the Champions League final as well. This is without a doubt a great achievement. So there’s the question: Does City really need Haaland? Guardiola is confident with his decision and says that the team will adapt to new changes. You’re a fan of English football? Then you definitely will enjoy betting with the PlayAmo app.

Will Haaland fail like Ibrahimovic? 

  Pep Guardiola’s experience with conventional strikers has been diverse. Some of them showed amazing results, others – didn’t. Samuel Etoo was a part of Guardiola’s epic campaign in 2008/09 when they won 3 titles including the Champions League. Thiery Henry is another example who performed quite well under Pep’s management. Eto’o scored 36 goals for Barcelona in his last season, while Henry scored 26. But the most controversial striker in Guardiola’s career was Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish-Bosnian striker previously played for Inter for 3 years. Barcelona signed Zlatan in 2009 for 59 million and Eto’o in an exchange. But considering the money, this transfer happened to be one of the worst for Barcelona. The relationship between Ibrahimovic and Guardiola worsened shortly after, and after 2 seasons Zlatan was transferred to AC Milan.  Some people see the same qualities in Ibra and Haaland, both physically and mentally. But if we look at the given circumstances carefully, Haaland’s situation is clearly different. First of all, Guardiola is already more experienced and has a better understanding of players’ psychology. Also, Pep had no authority at the time, but after establishing himself as one of the best coaches of all time, young players will have more respect for him. Secondly, it’s worth mentioning that one of the reasons for Zlatan’s failure was Lionel Messi. Even though Zlatan used to be a decent player when he signed with Barcelona, Leo Messi was already winning the Ballon d’Or. It was crystal clear who would have the bigger attention. In Haalands’ case, it’s totally the opposite. City has some big names and talented youngsters, like Jack Grealish, Sterling, and Phil Foden, but none of them can take away the hype and the spotlight from Haaland. Erling will be the most important figure in City.