Kane would have been better for Man City than Haaland, says Henry

Stuart Telford

• 15 Feb 2023 21:49 GMT
• 3 min read

Thierry Henry thinks Man City would have been a better side with Harry Kane in their ranks rather than Erling Haaland.

City were linked with a £100 million plus move for Kane the summer before last, but Tottenham Hotspur chairman Dan Levy held firm on his asking price for the England captain and the forward stayed at White Hart Lane.

One season on and City acquired Haaland from Borussia Dortmund for €60m instead, and he has hit the ground running with 26 goals in 22 Premier League games - which is nine more goals than Kane has this term.

READ: Erling Haaland at Man City: Goals, assists, results & fixtures in 2022-23

But Henry - who knows a thing or two about scoring having won four Premier League Golden Boots in his Arsenal heyday - thinks Kane would have been a better fit for Man City.

"I would say that if I have to build a team to win," he answered when asked by Jamie Carragher on CBS Sports Golazo if Kane would have been the better signing.

"I thought that Man City was going to go for Harry Kane and we all know that they wanted him, and I thought that they were going to come back. I thought he is the typical striker for City.

READ: Kane told to force £100m move to Man Utd

Henry had previously listed Kane's strengths before describing how Arsene Wenger once improved his game by making him think about who he was making a run for, be it Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires or Freddie Ljungberg.

Henry: 'he stopped what they're about'

"I think sometimes Haaland is making the same run, whoever is on the ball," Henry continued. "And I think sometimes he doesn't help the team in terms of who's on the ball.

When pressed by the panel to confirm that he thought Haaland has weakened City's overall play, he replied in the affirmative.

"I think he did stop what they were about," he said. "They had a certain way of playing. You didn't know who was going to drop, who and where. I think now they are a bit more predictable - that doesn't mean you can stop them easily, that's not what I'm saying - I'm saying that they're more predictable."

Predictable or not, Haaland was back on the scoresheet at City moved to the top of the Premier League at the Gunners' expense on Wednesday, scoring the third goal in a 3-1 win.