Joe Cole has backed one Manchester City star to become a complete player in the future.
After the Citizens failed to beat their fellow title-chasers Arsenal in the Premier League last weekend and had to settle for a 0-0 draw, one figure in Pep Guardiola’s side found himself being criticised for certain aspects of his game.
Despite that, another pundit and former top-flight player has shared some positivity about the City star in question and even backed him to become even better than he already is.
Cole backs City player to improve his game
Speaking on TNT Sports ahead of today’s win over Crystal Palace, Cole said this about Erling Haaland and how he could improve at City after Roy Keane likened his style of play to that of a League Two player.
He said: “He’s the elite goalscorer in world football, there’s no doubt about that. Put him in front of goal and he’s as clinical an anybody.
“There’s aspects of his game that he would like to improve on, I’m sure and build-up play is one of them.
“He’s 23 by the way and maybe he’ll be better and getting hold of it and bringing other players in the game but you’re just really looking into his game and waiting for him to become the full package.
“In four, five years time, if we’re having the conversation again I bet we’ll be thinking like the likes of what’s happened with players like John Stones and Kyle Walker where you go they’re complete players.
“Five, six, seven years ago there was different talk about them but they’ve improved. They’ve got a great manager, a great attitude and they’re top, top players.”
While the striker has scored 19 goals in 25 Premier League appearances this season, he has only been able to successfully complete 216 of the 289 passes he’s attempted, leaving him with a passing accuracy percentage of 74.7%, the second-lowest in the City squad.
In our view, while Haaland’s build-up and link-up play away from the penalty box could be improved, his main asset is scoring goals, and if he continues to do that and help his side win matches, the conversation around the rest of his game will die down, especially if he can gradually improve on it as he goes along.