By Peter Ochieng
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has strongly defended his lead striker, Erling Haaland over criticism from former Liverpool captain, Jamie Carragher.
The former defender in his column in the Telegraph called Haaland the ‘ultimate luxury player.’ He stated that the Norwegian is no where near former English Premier League players at their prime, giving an example of Luis Suarez and Henry Thierry.
“Erling Haaland is the ultimate luxury footballer. He is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest goal-scorers but is yet to become a world-class player. To be truly world-class you need more than one, all-encompassing trait. Think of the best Premier League strikers of the last 20 years – Thierry Henry, Luis Suarez or Harry Kane – and they had or have a major influence on the biggest matches whether they scored or not. All of them could play for any side in the world and contribute more than an impressive strike-rate.”
“In general play, Haaland is not at the same level as these strikers yet, his three most recent games against top-class centre-backs confirming that for all his brilliance inside the penalty area, he is a work-in-progress out of it. Virgil van Dijk, William Saliba and Antonio Rudiger bullied Haaland, the much-hyped showdowns between top defenders and a goal machine were nothing of the sort. They were a mismatch rather than a match-up,” he added.
He opined that Haaland must make significant adjustments to his game, to drastically improve his chances of winning the FIFA Balloon D’Or.
“If his sole interest is breaking goalscoring records, he does not need to change anything. If he has serious ambitions to win the Ballon d’Or and play for Real Madrid, he may have a problem. He must add more to his game to make that leap and to seriously challenge his rival to the title of the best player of his generation, Kylian Mbappe.”
23-year-old Haaland has scored 82 goals in his 90 appearances for Manchester City.
His manager, Pep Guardiola in response hit back at Carragher, claiming that Haaland’s target is not to win the Ballon D’Or. He said without the striker, City would not have won five titles last season.
“The target is not to win the Ballon d’Or. The target is to win the Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues, FA Cups and Carabao Cups. And he did it. Without him, it would not be possible. What we won in 2023 five titles without him it’s impossible. No chance.”
Guardiola insisted that Haaland remains a key player for City going foward.
“He’s a key player for us. He will improve because of his desire, his age, more games, more experience, arrive in the latter stages of the competition, it’s never happened in his career. This will be his future.”
The striker has scored 30 goals and provided six assists, in 37 games in all competitions this season.
Carragher’s criticism comes days after former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, likened Haaland to a League Two player.