Alan Shearer has claimed that Manchester City currently have a player who has been superior to Gareth Bale during his time in the Premier League.
It was at Real Madrid where the Welshman went down as one of the greatest forwards in the modern era.
While for Wales, Bale was well and truly a man possessed and as far as international football goes, there have not been many better than him.
But at Tottenham Hotspur, the retired winger was a force of nature.
Regardless of the quality of Spurs’ team at the time, Gareth Bale would singlehandedly destroy sides in the Premier League.
The versatile forward was incredibly quick, his shooting was outstanding from any range and he could beat his man for fun.
Shearer says Man City have a player who’s been better than Bale in the Premier League
Kyle Walker told FIVE in March that no player he has ever played with has had a better individual season than Gareth Bale during the 2012/2013 campaign.
As excellent a player as Bale, perhaps some figures at City can claim to have better Premier League careers than him.
For instance, Kevin De Bruyne would be considered to have outdone the five-time Champions League winner.
De Bruyne’s longevity in the English top-flight coupled with the standards as potentially the league’s best player for almost a decade is rather unparalleled in any case.
Gareth Bale was remarkable but at the end of the day, even at his best, was he at the same standard as the Belgian in the Premier League?
But Shearer did not name De Bruyne.
Instead, Alan Shearer named Erling Haaland as the fifth greatest left-footed player in Premier League history, while ranking Gareth Bale as number eight.
On Haaland, Shearer said, “I know he’s only been a season and a half but his record is already phenomenal. What he’s won, the goals, everything and he’s got a rocket of a left foot as well. So, I know the longevity thing, he’s only been here 18 months or so but I think he’s made that much of an impact that, that’s why I had him as number 5.”
“His record is phenomenal”, he said on BBC’s Match of the Day: Top 10 show.
Hard to disagree about Erling Haaland
In our view, it is tough to disagree with Alan Shearer about Erling Haaland being a greater Premier League player than Gareth Bale.
For starters, as tremendous as Bale was in his final season at Spurs, the debut campaign Haaland had has a case for being the best individual campaign in the league’s history, which might have swayed Shearer towards ranking the latter higher.
Apart from that, the Welsh legend did not win a single trophy at Tottenham.
On the other hand, Erling Haaland has already won the treble and in his second season at Manchester City, he might win the double.
As a result, the £51 million has an edge over Bale in this regard.