MY ACCOUNT
Manchester City won their fourth Premier League title in five seasons on Sunday — and Pep Guardiola’s champions will be further strengthened this summer by the arrival of Borussia Dortmund hotshot Erling Haaland.
Having retained their crown without an out-and-out striker, the Citizens have acquired one of the most highly-rated young talents in world football.
Adding a player who netted 86 goals in 89 games at Dortmund to a City side that scored 99 times in the league this term seems like a sure-fire recipe for success — but football is rarely as simple as that.
Style of play
One of the most obvious issues Haaland may encounter at his new club is that his style of play is not an obvious fit at City.
The Norwegian, 21, thrived at Dortmund using his pace and physicality to get in behind defences or hit them on the counter.
That will not be possible as often for the Citizens as teams often set up in a low block against them and have to be played through.
City had 68.5% possession in 2021-22 — the most in the top five European leagues.
Haaland’s link-up play will have to improve if he is to fit into this Guardiola side.
It must also be remembered that the Spanish manager has not always brought the best out of physical strikers.
Robert Lewandowski had his worst goalscoring season at Bayern Munich under Guardiola, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic famously struggled in his Barcelona side.
Injuries
Another concern for Haaland’s goalscoring hopes is his injury history.
According to Transfermarkt, he has had 13 separate issues across his time at Byrne, Molde, RB Salzburg and Dortmund.
In contrast, Phil Foden, who is also 21, has had just three spells out through injury or illness in his career.
While it is not a given the Norwegian will continue to miss games as a result of fitness problems, his explosive style of play and heavy workload may cause issues in his first season in the Premier League.
Goals
On the face of it, Haaland should be a storming goalscoring success at City.
But Jadon Sancho, Ousmane Dembele and many more have shown it can be difficult to adjust to life outside of the Bundesliga.
In a team as good at creating chances as City, the Norwegian should thrive — especially if he is placed on penalty duties.
However, the suggestion by some that the single-season Premier League scoring record of 34 held jointly by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole is in danger seems overcooked.
In all likelihood, Haaland will take some time to adjust to a new league and could even end up scoring fewer than 20 goals, which would be regarded in some quarters as a disappointing effort.
