Steve McManaman on Erling Haaland and Barcelona's Forward Options
Steve McManaman can see why the question keeps coming. Erling Haaland, Barcelona, the great Spanish fantasy. But the former Manchester City winger is not convinced the story is as simple as many want it to be.
“Maybe,” he said when asked if Haaland could end up at Barça, speaking to GOAL on behalf of ESPN on Disney+. “Everybody's got this mythical thing that Erling wants to play in Spain, don’t they?”
The idea is seductive: Haaland thundering around La Liga, trading goals and glares with Real Madrid. Reality, though, bites hard in Catalonia.
“I mean whether Barcelona could even afford Erling is another question,” McManaman pointed out. “So maybe they are playing the long game, I have no idea. Erling seems very, very happy at City – signed a huge long-term contract last year, didn’t he.”
Barcelona’s attack, he feels, is a puzzle that somehow keeps solving itself. On paper, they look light. On the pitch, they keep rolling over people.
“I thought they were quite short up front last year,” McManaman admitted. “And they went and won the league quite comfortably. Robert's gone, Ferran's gone, who is their centre-forward this year?”
He doesn’t see a classic No.9 in the current options.
“I think [Karim] Adeyemi’s not really an out-and-out number nine, he's more of a typical speedster, isn’t he. You've got Raphinha, you've got [Anthony] Gordon, you've got Lamine [Yamal].”
It’s a collection of wide forwards, dribblers, runners. Not the traditional reference point in the box. McManaman has been here before with Barcelona, though. He keeps doubting. They keep answering.
“Whenever I looked at Barcelona last year they did the same, the year before they did the same,” he said. “I looked at various areas and thought: they look short there, they look short there. And then they go and obliterate everybody.”
One player, in particular, summed up that unpredictability for him.
“I look at Eric Garcia, he played about four or five positions last year,” McManaman recalled. “And I'm thinking to myself: ‘Can he play there, can he play there?’ And actually he can – he can play bloody everywhere!”
They surprise him, but not enough to change his core concern.
“So they continue to surprise me, but I'm the same, I still think they need a positional number nine,” he insisted. “Whether they have one in La Masia, coming up as a youngster who can do a job for you for maybe 10-15 games is another thing.”
Real Madrid, he noted, have gone a different way in terms of profile.
“Madrid have brought [Carlos] Espi, scored a few goals already, again a different type of player,” McManaman said.
Barcelona, by contrast, spread the responsibility.
“But you know Lamine will get 20 if he stays fit, Raphinha will get another 25 if he stays fit, and Adeyemi, I bet he'll get 20,” he continued. “And Gordon will, if he plays enough games, get 20 goals. They tend to spread it around a little bit more evenly than Real Madrid.”
So the Haaland dream lingers in the background, a long-game fantasy against the harsh numbers of Barça’s finances and the reality of a City striker who looks settled. While the myth grows, Barcelona’s goals, for now, will have to keep coming from everywhere else.
