David Raya has claimed that a certain player in world football is superior to Erling Haaland.
Being one of, if not the best player in the world, Haaland is often compared to his contemporaries, from Harry Kane to even Kevin De Bruyne at times.
The 23-year-old often comes out on top in most debates involving other players.
The players that the £51 million man often gets compared to are more technically gifted than him.
But not many players have a standout trait that is of the same standard or even as important as Haaland’s goalscoring ability.
Couple that with Erling Haaland’s trophy cabinet and it becomes difficult to claim that many players have the edge on him.
David Raya says 25-year-old is better than Erling Haaland
Jamie Redknapp recently admitted that he cannot quite fathom why the Norwegian gets as much stick as he does.
It seems like there is a lot of focus on what Haaland cannot do as a player, perhaps because due to his effectiveness, his sceptics have tried to pinpoint his flaws.
But as Micah Richards claimed, the Leeds-born striker is improving as an all-round player, especially in terms of his link-up play.
It has seemed inevitable that under Pep Guardiola’s guidance, Erling Haaland would find ways to get better and better.
That seems to be taking place over time.
But even so, the Arsenal number one has a take on the Manchester City striker.
When quizzed about whether Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe is the better player [via ESPN UK on TikTok], David Raya replied, “Mbappe.”
Haaland should not be focused on usurping Mbappe
Much like David Raya, even Harry Redknapp claimed that Kylian Mbappe is a superior player to Erling Haaland.
In our view, even if Haaland feels the need to surpass Mbappe to be widely regarded as the best player in the world, he should not focus on his adversary.
Instead, the star striker’s aim should be to become the best version of himself as fundamentally, he and the Frenchman are polar opposites as players.
In Mbappe’s outings as a makeshift striker against Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, he has looked like a fish out of water.
But simultaneously, Haaland perhaps cannot be regarded as a self-sufficient goalscorer and world-class creator in the same vein as the World Cup winner; as a result, his focus should be on becoming as well-rounded a number nine as possible.
David Raya is entitled to prefer Kylian Mbappe over Erling Haaland as a lot of such debates come down to what one values in a player.