Erling Haaland is a world-class finisher but not a world-class player

Antonio Rudiger had Erling Haaland in his pocket during the 3-3 draw this week – Getty Images/Alberto Gardin

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 Suárez 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 Rüdiger bullied Haaland, the much-hyped showdowns between top defenders and a goal machine nothing of the sort. They were a mismatch rather than a match-up.

No high-calibre striker should be so dominated, so easily.

During my era, Didier Drogba was the world-class striker I faced most frequently, battles in which both of us came out on top at different times. That’s what a duel between a striker and centre-back should be.

Van Dijk, Saliba and Rüdiger will not admit it publicly, but after the Liverpool, Arsenal and Real Madrid games against Manchester City, they must all have come off the pitch believing they have faced much tougher assignments than keeping Haaland quiet.

Since Haaland joined City he has been a brilliant curiosity. Any analysis of a modern player is immediately considered ‘criticism’ rather than an observation. But no-one regularly watching Haaland – whether a neutral or ardent City fan – can fail to recognise that when he does not score he does not do much else.

That’s working out perfectly fine for City given it is so rare he does not score. City’s win rate when Haaland scores is 88 per cent. They are yet to lose in any competition when he is on target.

In most of their games, City have so much possession that Haaland can focus his energy into getting into the right position to receive an assist. But when the level of opposition increases it is an issue. When Haaland plays and does not score, City’s win rate falls to 49 per cent. His 41 goalless games include nine defeats. That’s a massive drop.

Haaland’s goals inevitably create Manchester City victories – Getty Images/Oli Scarff

Only against the top sides do we get an insight into Haaland’s work without the ball or helping to resist pressure with his hold-up play, which is why he has heard some more negative appraisals, most recently from Roy Keane and Henry.

From day one, it has intrigued me that Pep Guardiola rates Haaland so highly that he is prepared to compromise his usual principles.

The Norwegian does not press high, retain the ball especially well, demonstrate outstanding physicality in deep areas, or link the play with his midfielders. He is an out-and-out No 9 in the old-school tradition – the kind of striker we thought was extinct at the elite level of the modern game until Haaland burst onto the scene.

In his first few years at City, Guardiola gave the impression he was not convinced about Sergio Aguero in the biggest fixtures, often leaving him on the bench. Aguero will go down as one of the greatest Premier League strikers. Guardiola wanted more from him.

What separates Haaland from Aguero and all the prolific goal-getters of the past is the freakishness of his strike-rate. He may be one-dimensional, but that dimension is so extraordinary it has rendered any flaws insignificant when assessing City’s results.

Haaland scored 52 goals in 53 games for City last season. He is on course for another 40 this year. He will probably reach 250 in record time.

When you are delivering those numbers, does anything else matter? That’s the question I ask myself every time he has a quiet game.

City won the treble last season. They may do so again in a few weeks. How can you question any one part of the line-up that has delivered so much? Haaland is one of the reasons City evolved from a team craving a Champions League title to possibly winning it in consecutive seasons.

But the underlying, long-term issue here is not what City fans think, or even what Guardiola thinks about Haaland’s general play. Guardiola must be happy with what Haaland is doing or else he would not pick him.

What will become increasingly significant as his career progresses is this: what does Haaland think? Where does he want his game to develop? Does he actually care that his game is being judged solely on his goal return? Is his minimal contribution beyond goalscoring by design or necessity? If a manager demands more outside of the penalty area, does he have the capacity to do it?

Haaland is still only 23 and gives the impression that he has a career plan mapped out.

If his sole interest is breaking goalscoring records, he has no 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 best player of his generation, Kylian Mbappé.

To play centre-forward for a club of Real’s stature you must be multi-functional. Karim Benzema was seriously underrated beyond his capacity to find the net. Mbappé, who is expected to join Real this summer, is far more than a goalscorer.

The two greatest players of the last two decades – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – dominated the Ballon d’Or for the same reason. For much of their rivalry, there was little to separate them when judging their influence for goals and assists. Messi moved clear of Ronaldo once the Portuguese superstar’s game was focused more on operating in the penalty area.

Haaland could have the last laugh over Rüdiger in next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg, of course. It is easier for a top striker to get the better of a top defender, because they need only one moment to define the game. No-one will remember if Rüdiger had Haaland in his pocket for 179 minutes over two games if the striker scores the goal that takes City to another semi-final.

We all love goal-scorers because they are the match-winners, and Haaland has no fear about putting the final touch to spectacular City moves for the foreseeable future.

There is no better finisher. But eventually he will need to become the finished article to warrant being spoken about in the same breath as Ronaldo and Messi.

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