Erling Haaland to Manchester City analysis: The should’s and could’s

It has finally been confirmed that Erling Haaland will be heading to Manchester City come July. This has been met with both jubilation but also some question marks, especially with the both the striker he is and with the coach Pep Guardiola is. But are these questions valid? I’ve watched a lot of Haaland goals over the last 30 months. Let’s find out how the 21-year-old could fit in this Man City team and what should (or could) happen.

No, not a Target Man

Standing at 194cm (6'4") and scoring 85 goals as in 88 appearances across all competitions for Borussia Dortmund, one would probably put him down as a target man. But that isn’t how he works.

Assigning roles to strikers is necessary and there are different type of strikers such as “Target Man” or “Poacher” but more often than not, you will come across a striker that meets more than one of these, such as Bundesliga colleague Robert Lewandowski who is an all-rounded striker.
Haaland, despite not being as all-rounded as his Bundesliga colleague, still is dominate in more than one striker role. He’s both a mobile striker — (a technical and dynamic player, who asserts himself in 1v1's) and a pressing forward (a forward who leads the press and forces defenders from the back line, disrupting play), the latter of which mainly because of the structures of teams at Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull-minded coach Marco Rose at Dortmund.