Steve McManaman on Erling Haaland and Barcelona's No.9 Dilemma
Steve McManaman can see why the Erling Haaland-to-Spain rumours refuse to die. He just isn’t convinced Barcelona are the ones who will make it happen – or that they even can.
Speaking to GOAL on behalf of ESPN on Disney+, with Atletico Madrid’s trip to Sevilla on the schedule this Saturday, the former Manchester City winger was asked the inevitable question: is Haaland really destined for La Liga?
“Maybe,” he replied. “Everybody's got this mythical thing that Erling wants to play in Spain, don't they.”
Then came the cold reality.
“Whether Barcelona could even afford Erling is another question, 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.”
For now, McManaman sees a different issue at Barcelona: the No.9 they don’t have.
He admitted he was surprised by how light they looked up front last season, only for them to power through regardless.
“I thought they were quite short up front last year and they went and won the league quite comfortably,” he said. “Robert's gone, Ferran's gone, who is their centre-forward this year?”
He ran through the options and the doubts.
“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.”
The pattern, in his eyes, keeps repeating.
“Whenever I looked at Barcelona last year they did the same, the year before they did the same. I looked at various areas and thought: they look short there, they look short there – and then they go and obliterate everybody.”
One player summed up that adaptability for him.
“I look at Eric Garcia, he played about four or five positions last year and I'm thinking to myself, ‘can he play there, can he play there?’ And actually he can – he can play bloody everywhere!”
They keep finding solutions. McManaman still thinks one piece is missing.
“So they continue to surprise me, but I'm the same, I still think they need a positional number nine. 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, are building their attack differently.
“Madrid have brought Carlos Espi, scored a few goals already, again a different type of player,” he said.
What Barcelona do have, though, is firepower spread across the front line. McManaman expects serious numbers if their forwards stay healthy.
“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, 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 question lingers in the background, as it always does. For now, Barcelona’s reality is simpler, and harsher: solve the No.9 problem from within, or wait for a financial miracle.
