Erling Haaland to Manchester City Confirmed - Can City Be Stopped Next Season?

Monday saw reputable transfer source David Ornstein confirm that Norwegian striker Erling Haaland is moving to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund this summer. At only 21 years old, Haaland could be a mainstay at City and in the Premier League for many, many years to come.

The Norwegian’s more than impressive years in the Bundesliga and formidable international form make it hard to imagine him not dominating in the Premier League. But with this addition to Pep Guardiola’s already star-studded squad, will City be able to be stopped next season?

In the 2021/22 season alone, Haaland has 21 goals and eight assists in his 23 appearances in the Bundesliga. Similarly, in his three appearances in the Champions League for Borussia Dortmund, the Norwegian has three goals. In fact, the only real negative of Haaland’s season has been his many injury setbacks.

Overall this campaign, Haaland was unavailable for selection by Borussia Dortmund manager Marco Rose for over 100 days. This pattern of injuries, which includes two bouts of muscular problems, hip flexor problems and historical knee issues, may be the only thing that can weaken a City team with Haaland.

Haaland first caught the eye in his time at Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. The Norwegian moved from Molde in his home country - where he scored 14 goals in 39 appearances - to Red Bull Salzburg in 2019.

At Only 19-years-old at the time, Haaland scored 17 goals in his 16 appearances, including goals in the Champions League and five hat tricks in the Austrian Bundesliga. Haaland scored once against Liverpool at Anfield, got a goal against Genk and scored three times versus Napoli over two games to become the first teenager to score in his first five Champions League matches.

These performances earned Haaland a move to Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund, where he would go on to score 61 goals in 66 appearances in the league over three seasons.

Haaland’s first-ever appearance for BVB came against FC Augsburg, where the Norwegian became the second-ever player in Borussia Dortmund’s history to score a hattrick on his debut. He then scored twice in his next match, becoming the fastest Bundesliga player to reach five goals - 56 minutes.

The 2020/21 season saw Haaland score 27 goals in 28 Bundesliga appearances and win the DFB-Pokal, his only piece of silverware from his time at Borussia Dortmund. Haaland scored twice in the 4 - 1 thrashing of Red Bull Leipzig in the DFB-Pokal Final and won the fan-voted Bundesliga Player of the Year. The Norwegian also won the 2020 Golden Boy after his very successful season with both Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund.

Haaland has also been just as impressive in his international career as he is in his club football, though his only honour with Norway came in the Syrenka Cup in 2016 when he was playing for the Norway U17s. Since his debut with the senior international team in 2019, Haaland has scored 15 goals in his 17 appearances and has been awarded Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year in 2020.

After the increase in injury problems and eventual departure of talismanic striker Sergio Aguero, Pep Guardiola and City have failed to find an adequate replacement for the Argentine.

In response to this, Guardiola prefers to use a 4-3-3 and plays a ‘false nine’ - an attacking midfielder or winger who can occupy any of the final third. This has usually been Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan or Phil Foden.

However, like most perceived ‘weaknesses’ that affect Manchester City, their lack of a traditional striker hasn’t really affected them. In the 35 Premier League games so far this season, City have scored 89 goals an average of 2.54 goals scored per game. In all competitions, City have scored three or more goals in 23 games.

All of these statistics, therefore, suggest that Manchester City don’t actually have a striker problem, so the introduction of Erling Haaland doesn’t level the playing field, but rather makes City even more formidable than before.

However, City will be hoping that a serial goal-scorer like Haaland will help them with one last thing - the Champions League. Guardiola’s men bowed out of the competition once again, this time at the Semi-Final stage against Real Madrid, where the Spanish side won 6 - 5 on aggregate in extra time.

The top prize in European club football is the object of many City fans’ affections, having eluded City for their entire history. Therefore the introduction of Haaland increases their chances at not only the Champions League but also the Premier League and any competition they are in.