Erling Haaland has joined Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund off the back of 86 goals in 89 games for Borussia Dortmund, along with an incredible 20 goals in just 21 caps for Norway. It’s not meant to be this easy at 21 years old, and with him now joining the champions of the last two years in England, records could get shattered by him in his debut season and onwards.
Over the years, should City remain dominant with Haaland at the forefront for years to come without major injuries, the likes of Sergio Aguero’s all-time City goalscoring record and Mohamed Salah’s record of 32 goals in one season will all be on the Norwegian’s mind.
Looking ahead to the season, we attempt to predict how his first campaign with the Citizens could play out.
Debut Season in Dortmund
Haaland joined Dortmund back in January 2019 after scoring a stunning 28 goals in 22 appearances for RB Salzburg. He’d then play out 18 more games in the 2019/20 season for Dortmund, netting a fantastic 16 goals in 18 games.
In the Norwegian’s first full season, however, only Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski outscored him across Europe’s top five leagues. What’s more, Mbappe played six more games with his 47 fixtures and 42 goals, just as Lewandowski netted 48 from 40 games in a season barely anybody in history has matched.
City’s Need for a Striker
City have needed a striker since Aguero started to spend more time in the physio room around 2017. Gabriel Jesus just simply hasn’t been clinical enough, and although the club have managed to win the league with false nines like Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden, the two were never going to get near the numbers of Aguero.
It has worked out tactically for Guardiola to not play with a recognized striker, but in a sport where goals win games, it’s about time City looked towards recruiting one of the best goalscorers in the world.
City scored 99 goals in the recent season, 83 the campaign prior, 102 in 2019/20, and 95 the season before that. This has all been at the same time Haaland has been breaking records for Norway and Dortmund, and with City scoring that many that often with only Jesus and an injury-prone Aguero to call upon, just imagine what they may do with a striker like Haaland.
Looking Back at Aguero’s Importance
It’s been a few years now since City have felt that importance from their all-time top scorer, but with Haaland, they’ve now put reliance back on the striker position, as opposed to wingers and attacking midfielders. Under Guardiola, this usually results in a ton of goals.
When utilized correctly, Aguero was arguably the Premier League’s best, and if it wasn’t for injuries, he’d have more than one Premier League Golden Boot award to his name for sure. Now, with Haaland potentially eyeing a similar career path while already boasting a better goals to game ratio, the importance of Aguero is set to be reflected on to Haaland now.
Injuries
The most worrying part of Haaland’s career to date after six years in first division soccer is his injuries. In reality, his inability to play more than 28 of the scheduled 34 games in a Bundesliga campaign the past two seasons has been the difference in Mbappe being favored in the personal battle between the two.
To put the injuries Haaland has dealt with early on in perspective – mainly to his ankle – he played in just 30 games across all competitions this season compared to 46 from Mbappe and the 45 and 51 for the Premier League Golden Boot joint winners, Son Heung-min and Mohamed Salah.
The forward is set to turn 22 before the season, but to have so many injuries at this age is quite worrying. Haaland is also a very physical player. His running motion, strength, and overall maturity at such a young age could catch up with him in the next few years.
Although it’s likely going to be a fantastic debut season for him, Guardiola needs to put Haaland in bubble wrap in between games.
How Good is Haaland, Really?
To answer the question directly: a potential future great of the game.
Scoring 175 career goals in 221 appearances for club and country at his age is outrageous. In fact, quite frankly, it’s never been done before by the age of 21 in the modern era, which leaves even the great Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in Haaland’s wake early on.
Time will tell what heights he ultimately reaches, but Haaland is already one of the best around, and in the years to come, there’s a very good chance nobody outscores him.
-Grant McQuillan
Twitter: @Grant_McQuillan
Photo: Вячеслав Евдокимов. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.