West Ham United striker Michail Antonio has claimed that Erling Haaland should have joined Liverpool instead of Manchester City.
The forward was speaking on The Footballer’s Football Podcast when talk turned to City’s eye-catching signing.
Antonio wasn’t convinced that he is the right signing for Pep Guardiola though. Instead, he suggested that the striker would have been more suited to Liverpool’s style of play.
“I think he’s a quality player. Like an unbelievable striker. I feel his pace, his power and strength and finishing is unbelievable,” said the Hammers forward.
“But I just don’t believe he’s a Man City player. I don’t actually believe that Man City needed Haaland or a striker, as much as everyone has been saying it, I don’t really see it.
“They don’t really get the opportunity to spin in behind people. They don’t really get the opportunity to have the space to use an out and out striker. Everything is in to feet and interchanging of positions and that’s what has been working for them.
“Having an out and out striker who stands in the middle, even when Aguero was playing there, Aguero was still popping up into the pockets and doing the interchanges of movements so having an out and out striker, I feel like Haaland’s more suited to a Manchester United or a Liverpool because of how he plays, instead of City who everyone sits back against.”
City operating on a different financial planet
Haaland surely would have been an excellent signing for Liverpool. The big Norwegian is still yet to turn twenty-two and certainly has the pace and ball-carrying abilities to play in Jurgen Klopp’s system.
To some, he may have represented the perfect succession plan for Roberto Firmino.
However, Liverpool aren’t usually in the business of bringing ready-made superstars to the club. The transfer fee in the end doesn’t look too exorbitant – The Times report City have snatched him for ‘just’ £51m from Borussia Dortmund.
Haaland’s wages and assorted additional fees on the other hand, that’s not something Liverpool tend to go near.
If any further proof were needed, the deal starkly highlights the different financial planets that The Reds and City are working on. The Premier League leaders can essentially afford to pay any incoming player better than he’d get anywhere else.
As we’ve seen during the difficult contract negotiations for Mohamed Salah, Liverpool simply can’t do that.
Liverpool take a different approach
As a result of the financial disparity, The Reds instead have to be absolutely meticulous in their approach to the transfer market.
It’s a strategy that has paid off handsomely over the years. Judging by the impact Luis Diaz has had so far, it will continue to do so.
City’s latest statement signing will make them firm favourites for the Premier League title next season. For Liverpool, there’s simply no chance they will make a signing with as recognisable name as the Leeds-born striker. But their strategy is such that they’ll be confident of bringing in someone potentially even better.
Maybe Haaland should have joined Liverpool, but, being honest, that feels like more his loss than ours.
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