Will $63 Million Erling Haaland Fit Manchester City’s Style?

Manchester City today announced an agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.

The 21-year-old has been one of the forwards linked with City for the past year or so along with 28-year-old English forward Harry Kane. In the end, the club have been able to get a deal done for the younger of the pair.

Big clubs love a release clause, and City have met the reported €60 million release clause in Haaland’s contract, the equivalent of around $63 million or £51 million.

“Manchester City can confirm we have reached an agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of striker Erling Haaland to the Club on 1st July 2022,” read a club statement.

“The transfer remains subject to the Club finalising terms with the player.”

The narrative for a couple of seasons now has been that City will need a new out and out striker to replace the club’s all-time top scorer, Sergio Aguero, who left for Barcelona last summer before being forced to retire in December after being diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia.

They had not relied on Aguero much in his final season in 2020-21, and have had to manage without him altogether during this campaign.

Despite this, they managed to win the Premier League and the EFL Cup last season, also going further than ever in the Champions League by reaching the final where they lost to Chelsea.

This season they look set to retain their Premier League title and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League before being knocked out in dramatic fashion by Real Madrid.

Their success in recent seasons has raised doubts as to whether a Guardiola side needs a centre-forward at all.

The Catalan manager’s game plan is built around purposeful possession—control of the ball leading to control of the game. There are ball-players throughout the team and at times it can feel like the former Barcelona and Bayern boss is fielding a team of midfielders, including goalkeeper Ederson who is more than capable in this area of the game.

A total of six City players have reached double-figures for goals in all competitions this season. Riyad Mahrez leads the way with 24 and in the Premier League alone Raheem Sterling tops their charts with 12, but they are not reliant on any one player.

But despite this success and a style of football that is easy on the eye and entertaining, the big prize—the Champions League—still eludes Guardiola and City.

Guardiola judges success less on results and more on playing style—on how well they play and execute the plan in each game—but even he might admit the reason they play like this in the first place is to bring success through good football.

With that one gap remaining in the trophy cabinet, a common solution proposed for this problem is that City need a centre forward, and you don’t get more centre-forward than Haaland.

The Norwegian has pace, power, strength, good movement in attacking areas, good shooting technique and, most importantly for a player in his position, an eye for goal.

To put it more crudely, Haaland can kick the ball really hard at the goal after finding the space to do so, and more often than not it goes in.

There are questions as to whether he will fit in City’s team of midfielders, though. Haaland is often seen as some kind of footballing cyborg such is his ruthless ability in certain situations, his single-mindedness, and his strength. One thing he isn’t is a ball-playing attacker in the current City style, at least not after his latest hardware update at Borussia Dortmund.

There will be no fancy tactical terms applied to Haaland. No false nines or free eights or trequartistas. There will be goals though. It would be a surprise if there isn’t as he’s scored them everywhere he’s been, from dominating at youth level to scoring for fun in the Champions League with both Red Bull Salzburg and Dortmund.

He once scored nine goals in one game, at the 2019 U20 World Cup in Poland for Norway versus Honduras, with that game alone enough to earn him the tournament’s Golden Boot.

At Dortmund, he’s scored 85 goals in 89 games, and almost guarantees a goal per game when fit.

He’s not always fit, though. The athleticism that makes him such a daunting prospect for many defenders can sometimes let him down, leading to time on the sidelines while muscles recover from the rigorous work they are put through in each game.

That could be even more pronounced in the physicality of the Premier League. On the other hand, the busy, technical and hard-working nature of his new teammates at City could leave him with less to do in attack and defence, putting less physical strain on his body as a result.

On the face of it, Haaland doesn’t fit into this current version of Guardiola’s City, but he may not need to.

His work rate is such that he will do his share of the dirty work, but there may be less of it to do in such a dominant side.

In theory, in attack he could be there to occupy opposition defenders, create space for teammates, and also finish off the chances those teammates create, in a ruthless fashion.

There is a warning sign at another Premier League side, Chelsea, who spent big money on a striker—Romelu Lukaku—in 2021 but have failed to accommodate him into their overall style under Thomas Tuchel.

Lukaku still bags the odd goal, but the switch from playing in a front two at Inter to a more fluid attack at Chelsea has looked awkward, through no real fault of Lukaku’s.

Haaland and City are a different proposition though. Guardiola and the recruitment team at the club will already have an idea of the role Haaland can play in this team, and that role may simply be to score loads of goals. If he’s also able to do that in important Champions League games, he’ll fit in just fine.