As if bouncing back from their Champions League exit to Real Madrid by thrashing Newcastle United 5-0 to move top of the table, completely neutralising Liverpool’s superior goal difference in the process, wasn’t bad enough, Man City are reportedly on the verge of signing Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund.
Having missed out on signing Harry Kane in a £100m deal from Tottenham Hotspur last summer, opting to bring in Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for the same fee as an alternative, the reigning Premier League champions have reportedly agreed to meet the Norwegian’s £63m release clause. With an announcement reportedly expected in the coming days, Pep Guardiola is on the verge of replacing Sergio Aguero after going a full season without an orthodox centre-forward.
Haaland’s arrival at the Etihad will inevitably send shockwaves around the Premier League, as Kane’s would have done had City landed him last summer, with the 21-year-old quickly establishing himself as one of the best strikers in Europe after bursting onto the scene in the Champions League with Red Bull Salzburg in 2019.
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Scoring 28 goals from just 22 appearances in the first half of the 2019/20 season for the Austrian outfit, eight goals from six group-stage games, including one against Liverpool, earned the forward a €20m move to Borussia Dortmund in January. And while he might have won just one DFB-Pokal in his two and a half seasons with BVB, his record of 85 goals from 88 matches speaks for itself.
Already closing in on this year’s Premier League title, despite that lack of number nine, the stiker is a statement signing and a clear boost to City’s hopes of seeing off the challenge of Liverpool next season. If Guardiola’s men can be crowned English champions ahead of the Reds without a striker, imagine how strong their challenge will be next year with the goal-hungry Norwegian leading the line.
It’s an intimidating prospect and will hand Jurgen Klopp the biggest of challenges as his side look to build on this year’s quadruple attempt. And having seen the impact the £49m arrival of Luis Diaz had at Anfield in January, Reds will be wary of Haaland being a potential game-changing signing for their closest rivals.
And while the Norwegian hasn’t been able to topple Robert Lewandowski in the Bundesliga goalscoring charts despite his free-scoring nature, he’ll be a clear rival to Mohamed Salah and co. in the race of the Premier League Golden Boot next season. If he stays fit.
For as talented as Haaland is, he has suffered more than his fair share of injuries during his time in Germany, with his absence ultimately contributing to Dortmund failing to keep the pace with Bayern in the Bundesliga title-race.
Since joining BVB in January 2020, the striker has missed 28 matches through injury from eight separate lay-offs, and this season alone he has been absent for 16 games through a mixture of muscle and hip issues. While it makes his return of 29 goals from 29 appearances even more impressive this season, it does make you wonder what heights he would achieve without such setbacks.
Should he settle in the Premier League, it’s clear the striker will continue to score goals for fun. But given the physical nature of the English top-flight, it’s entirely plausible such injury woes will persist too. Therefore, while City might be signing one of the deadliest finishers around, it remains to be seen just often they’ll have to make do without his services, having often suffered similarly when Aguero was their leading marksman.
This is no suggestion that it would be a damaging blow to any trophy ambitions at the Etihad. They still won plenty of silverware over the years despite losing the Argentine to injury, and are closing in on the title this year without any striker at all. But it is in stark contrast to Liverpool’s own fortunes when it comes to the availability of their own attacking ranks.
As a comparison, Salah has only missed three games through injury since joining the Reds in the summer of 2017. And one of them was because he tested positive for Covid-19!
Meanwhile, Sadio Mane has missed just seven matches through injury since Haaland joined Dortmund. Like Salah, one of them was because of testing positive for Covid-19, while his overall record of 25 matches missed through injury from 10 separate lay-offs for Liverpool dates back in the summer of 2016, and is skewered by the eight games he sat out after suffering a knee injury in the Merseyside derby in his first season at Anfield.
Roberto Firmino has admittedly endured a torrid time through injury this season, missing 27 games to date as a result of hamstring injuries, a foot injury and Covid-19, with his overall total standing at 45 matches missed across 13 different lay-offs since moving to Anfield in the summer of 2015. Yet injuries only ruled him out of 14 matches between October 2015 and the end of the 2020/21 season as he enjoyed near-undisputed first-choice status under Klopp.
Elsewhere, Diogo Jota has missed 24 matches since moving to Anfield in the summer of 2020, but coming across three separate lay-offs, 19 of those came during a three-month lay-off with a knee injury. As for Luis Diaz, injury is yet to rule him out for the Reds, with him missing six matches during his two and a half years with Porto and two of them being because of Covid-19.
Klopp will hope the availability of his attacking stars remains as impeccable next season, having grown accustomed to having a near fully-fit squad for half of the current campaign. And if that does indeed prove to be the case, he’ll certainly have no desire to swap shoes with Guardiola anytime.
As the German warned, Haaland’s arrival will certainly not weaken Man City and will set new levels. But whether that is enough to prove decisive in the Premier League title-race come May 2023, only time will tell.
