Haaland needs to leave Man City to be at his best - Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher

Carlo Garganese

• 15 Feb 2023 04:00 CST
• 4 min read

Erling Haaland needs to leave Manchester City if we are ever to see the best of the Norwegian superstar.

That is the view of Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, who believes that Pep Guardiola’s style of football does not maximise Haaland’s abilities.

Haaland is enjoying an incredible debut season in the Premier League, following his €60 million move from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

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He has scored 31 goals in all competitions already and has shattered numerous records.

However, Haaland has rarely been involved in Man City’s overall play - often just coming to life to put the ball in the back of the net in the penalty area.

Carragher believes that Haaland has much more to offer than this.

What did Carragher say about Haaland?

"I'll be honest, when he first went to Manchester City, I thought this would happen, that it wasn't the perfect fit," Carragher said.

"I think it's the way Pep Guardiola plays football, and Thierry Henry speaks about this a lot, but you have to adapt to him, and he always says how difficult he found his first season when he was playing left wing.

"I've watched him and Haaland, especially away from home, probably four or five times now for Manchester City when I've been commentating and, when you're in that position, you can see the whole pitch and you can how frustrated he's getting at times when he's not getting the ball delivered, and I don't think that was ever going to be delivered because that's not the way Pep Guardiola plays football.

“He speaks a lot about passing, building up the pitch, getting his whole team towards the opposition, but I think Haaland wants the ball quicker.

"People will look at his goal record and send that to me but I think any striker would get 30 goals a season, any decent good striker.

"Haaland is obviously a special striker so he may get 40, but I think any striker worth his salt would get 30-plus goals for Manchester City because of the way they play. The ball comes across the six-yard box and you put the ball in but I've always felt there's so much more to Haaland's game than that.

"Even when we used to watch him at Dortmund and the Bundesliga, it is a different league and they played more on a counter-attack and run end to end and you see him in full flow and the speed of it is just absolutely frightening but we don't get to see that because of the team he is playing for.

“I don't think it's really a criticism of Man City or Haaland. It's just not the perfect fit. I don't think we'll ever see Haaland that is his 100% best showing every attribute he's got in a Manchester City team just because of the way Pep Guardiola plays football."

Haaland is on a mini-run of bad form, having failed to score in his last three games.

He is in action on Wednesday evening as Man City travel to London to play Arsenal in a top-of-the-table clash. A win for City will take them to the top of the Premier League on goal difference, although Arsenal have a game in hand.