Pep Guardiola has claimed that one of Manchester City’s key players can get even better.
The Blues are a few weeks away from potentially making history by winning a fourth Premier League title in a row, as well as another FA Cup and Champions League.
With City’s next league fixture seeing them take on Luton Town at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow afternoon, Guardiola has taken the time to assess one of his star players and even drop a claim about what the future could hold for him.
Guardiola says star Man City player can get even better
Speaking in his latest press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match against Luton, Guardiola had this to say about Haaland and the recent discussions about him in the media criticising his general play.
He said: “He’s a young player. Certain departments in the game have to improve. Like a player who is 33 years old can have margins to improve. But it’s more about the team than him.
“We scored three goals, [he wasn’t involved though?] he had two central defenders close to him. Really close to him. It’s not easy. It’s the most difficult position on the pitch, the most difficult position is a striker.
“Every player has one player, this is two central defenders against one striker. He has two players and they were so tight, really good defenders. Madrid and most of the team. It’s the most difficult position.
Guardiola was then asked what Haaland needs to do to win the Ballon d’Or.
He said: “Play more minutes, learn what you have to do, the game plan but I don’t know. The target is not to win the Ballon d’Or. The target is to win the Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues the FA Cups, Carabao Cups and he did it. Without him, it would not be possible.
“We won last season five titles, without him, no chance. Impossible. He’s a key player for us and he will improve because of his age, his desire. More games, more experience, arriving in the latter stages of competitions never happen in his career so this will be his future. But it’s not just with Erling, any player, even if 33 years old, you can be better. Until you retire, you can be better.”
Erling Haaland has been a top signing for City
Since joining the Manchester club back from Borussia Dortmund in the 2022 summer transfer window in a deal worth £51m, the striker has made 90 appearances for City across all competitions, scoring 82 goals along the way.
This alone confirms how much of a top signing the Norwegian has been for the Citizens.
Even though Haaland has been getting some criticism in recent weeks for what he does on the pitch away from scoring goals, the fact that Guardiola highlighted his efforts in the recent 3-3 draw against Real Madrid shows how much he is valued by his manager even though he didn’t score in that game.