A heavy-caliber deal, of course, was made by Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola, with the Norwegian Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund.
City paid only 60 million euros to sign the Norwegian, who has a market value of 150 million euros, so what was paid behind the scenes in commissions and bonuses is much greater than the announced value.
A sensation accompanied this deal, why not and that Haaland is the biggest candidate with Kylian Mbappe to ascend the throne of football instead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for many years.
But in the midst of this exaggerated hype, we must pay attention to some things different from what we see on social media, from expectations about Halland destroying all competitors and moving City away from everyone light years because of this deal.
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And before reading the next lines, it must be known that it is not intended to belittle Haaland’s talent, but rather an invitation to look at the other side of the situation away from all the noise..
Impossible Predictions
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We don’t need to go back too far, to realize that it is difficult to predict the success of players in their new teams after every deal, because there is always a risk.
Unfortunately, many of the deals that accompany a huge fanfare never succeed, such as the deal of the century with Neymar’s transfer to Paris Saint-Germain for 222 million euros, or appear less than expectations, such as Dusan Vlahovic with Juventus and Gareth Bale at Real Madrid.
The idea of Haaland scoring huge numbers of goals with Dortmund does not mean that we will see these numbers in the English Premier League with City, and we have a lesson in many other models.
Who would have expected the failure of Eden Hazard in Real Madrid? And Coutinho in Barcelona? Romelu Lukaku fell in this way with Chelsea, although he reached a level that prompted some to compare him with Ronaldo, who appears at Inter.
Attackers from the German League are also not the most reputable when they leave it, and Timo Werner is one of the most prominent examples of this, along with Luka Jovic, who became a bench seat with Real Madrid after he was an exceptional talent in Germany.
Kai Havertz also presented impressive levels in Germany with Leverkusen, prompting Chelsea to pay 80 million euros for him, and the output is much weaker than expectations.
The latest German pranks were Jadon Sancho, the Dortmund winger and former Halland colleague, who moved to Manchester United with 85 and was one of the worst deals last season.
Everyone expected that Lionel Messi would devour the opponents’ net in the French League by forming an awesome hat-trick with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, but what was the result?
A disjointed hat-trick and a modest performance by Messi in a league that is much easier than the Spaniard in which he excelled with Barcelona and achieved all possible records, so that the total in France was only 6 goals in 26 league games, so is Halland better than Messi so that his success is guaranteed in this degree?
All these examples certainly do not mean that Haaland will fail like all of them, but they are just evidence that it is difficult to predict the success of any player with certainty in general, but what about the case of Haaland specifically?
different requirements
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Immediately after the announcement of the Norwegian’s transfer to City, we watched hundreds, if not thousands, of comments and expectations that City would conquer the whole world with Haland, along with Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and other stars.
We saw many shots in which Haaland flew defenders in the German League in the air, because of his superhuman physical strength, however, the speed of the ball in England could not be tolerated by any player and Werner was the most prominent witness to this fact.
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Things are not that easy in the English Premier League, because the physical requirements are much higher, which means that Haaland’s success rate with City seems high because of his abilities in this regard, but what about his record with injuries, especially last season? Will we see another Hazard in Manchester City?
The highest scorer in the English Premier League in one season was for Mohamed Salah in 2018, when he scored 32 goals, a difference from Luis Suarez, who scored 31 goals in 2014 and Cristiano Ronaldo, who had the same score in 2008.
Can Haaland skip Salah’s number? On the surface, it is very easy for a player who scored 86 goals in 89 games for Dortmund, but in reality it is not so, because the requirements in the English Premier League are difficult, especially for attackers.
The fact that Haaland excelled outside Germany in the Champions League, whether in Salzburg or Dortmund, does not necessarily mean that it will be repeated at City in the same way, because again the expectations at the Etihad Stadium are much higher and greater than the German and Austrian duo.
And on the occasion of talking about the Champions League, we will find that Ajax Amsterdam striker Sebastian Haller, who is third in the top scorers for the last edition of the tournament with 11 goals “higher than Halland”, was one of the worst deals in West Ham history, after the frustrating level with which he appeared with the Hammers despite his arrival From Germany as a prominent talent with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Guardiola’s history
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One of the most important features that Pep Guardiola relied on in Manchester City is to rely on certain personalities in his team, who play only for the team and do not put their name above everyone else.
The Spaniard may have learned the lessons of dealing with characters such as Yaya Toure, Samuel Eto’o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as he completely failed to take advantage of any of them as he needed to face a clear problem in dealing with this type of player.
Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Joao Cancelo and even the biggest star in City, Kevin De Bruyne, are not all stars who like to appear as boxers who seize the spotlight on their own, and this is reflected in their acceptance of Guardiola’s love for the constant rotation and the seating of any player, whatever his name On the bench.
Halland’s personality is never in line with Guardiola’s policy at the Etihad Stadium. He loves to appear in the media and attract attention, and he is still 21 years old, and it is expected that the matter will escalate when he moves to a league that enjoys wide viewing in various parts of the world, such as the English Premier League.
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Can Pep deal with the Norwegian and contain his personality? And accommodating the player’s personal ambitions that may conflict with the team’s interest at times? The challenge will be great for both of them, and it will not be as easy as some might expect.
When talking about Haaland’s aspirations and personal ambitions, we must also address his clear desire to play for Real Madrid, as he wears a City shirt and has an eye on the Santiago Bernabeu, and there are rumors about his placement of a penalty clause in his contract that allows him to leave for the Spanish club in the near future.
Which puts more doubts about a player who is crazy to underestimate his value and the size of his great talent, but we should pay attention only to the difficulty of the challenge of playing for Manchester City and contentment with logical aspirations instead of resolving matters that the competition is completely over in England and that we will see double-digit results next to the name Manchester City in The scoreboard for most of his matches next season.
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