Erling Haaland

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there's an increasing trend amongst kids around the world to support players as much as teams.
But this is at the core of everything. Do we really think where we’re at is the endgame commercially for the owners or do we agree that they see us stepping up? And they know what the recipe is. I don’t know how many times I can repeat the PSG example. If you look at their biggest transfers ever, their third one (after Mbappe and Neymar) is on par with our biggest ever. They made that massive jump for the two stars (one already consolidated and one that would obviously materialize) as an obvious business decision to expand the brand.

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There is an interesting thing that a friend pointed out the other day to me, that the season Messi scored his most goals and the season Lewandowski scored his most goals (with the exception of his 2019/20 season) happened to be Pep’s last season at Barcelona and Bayern. You look at the way Pep talked about Haaland after the two games against Dortmund. He knows he is the one.
 
But this is at the core of everything. Do we really think where we’re at is the endgame commercially for the owners or do we agree that they see us stepping up? And they know what the recipe is. I don’t know how many times I can repeat the PSG example. If you look at their biggest transfers ever, their third one (after Mbappe and Neymar) is on par with our biggest ever. They made that massive jump for the two stars (one already consolidated and one that would obviously materialize) as an obvious business decision to expand the brand.

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There is an interesting thing that a friend pointed out the other day to me, that the season Messi scored his most goals and the season Lewandowski scored his most goals (with the exception of his 2019/20 season) happened to be Pep’s last season at Barcelona and Bayern. You look at the way Pep talked about Haaland after the two games against Dortmund. He knows he is the one.
This is definitely not the "end-game". That's why I get irritated with some fans obsessing about beating United to the detriment of everything else, or claiming that the FA Cup is somehow more important than the Champions League. That's the old City. It's gone. People need to expand their horizons and open their eyes. The new City are striving to become the biggest name in world football and this final is just another stepping stone. And until there are tens of millions of kids in City shirts paying a fiver to watch our games live every week we aren't there. And until we get that world star and win the champions league it's not going to happen.

i agree with you that all the signs are that he's coming too.

As an aside, the funny thing is, if Phil Foden becomes a national hero at the Euros, he could have that effect in this country amongst the young.
 
The duo Foden/Haaland would be marketing heaven. Even the contrast between their heights when they stand side by side is marketable and potentially iconic.
He missed several chances to score wonder goals over the two legs against PSG. If he puts a few of those away in the CL Final or in the Euros (if England do well) then he will suddenly be up there with haaland and MBappe as one of the world's most desirable young players.

I live your thinking about the two of them as a pair. Little and large etc.
 
He missed several chances to score wonder goals over the two legs against PSG. If he puts a few of those away in the CL Final or in the Euros (if England do well) then he will suddenly be up there with haaland and MBappe as one of the world's most desirable young players.

I live your thinking about the two of them as a pair. Little and large etc.
If Phil has a big tournament in the Euros he can be the main man domestically on and off the field for the next decade or more
 
For Phil's sake England would have to ditch Southgate straight away to give him and the national side the best chance possible at the Euros. His place in the squad is assured but not in the starting line up.
 
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The duo Foden/Haaland would be marketing heaven. Even the contrast between their heights when they stand side by side is marketable and potentially iconic.

Marketing is everything in football. How weird that may sound. Market yourself well more money comes in. Its why when people said that Messi was to old / finished you have got to realise that the marketing oppertunities that come with him joining is amazing for the club, the same can be said for Haaland, theres already talk about him being the new cover star for the next Fifa, hes now starting to be put in adverts and attaining sponsers. theres already talk about him and Mbappe being the next Ronaldo/ Messi debate.

You sign either one of those and youve got a lot of cash coming in. Kit sponsors will want to sponsor man city due to that name on the shirt, in meetings with sponsors you can ask for more money knowing you have that ticket in either Haaland or Mbappe, i dont say Foden only because in our minds hes a superstar but in kids minds he isnt a mbappe or Haaland due to Goals, Foden needs to score an amazing goal which he has teased multiple times in the semi final to be right okay its now the Foden/Haaland /Mbappe debate.
 
What a moment of Pep presenting the Ballon D’Or to Messi and the two other finalists were also managed by him. Hehe.

 
That's what I was thinking. The Euros might be the thing that turns Foden into a household name in European footballing circles.

There was an Argentine journalist on Espn or on Twitter cant remember which one, said that Phil reminded him of Maradona in that semi final with those runs, just needs to be able to finish those chances
 
That's what I was thinking. The Euros might be the thing that turns Foden into a household name in European footballing circles.

The Champions League run has almost done that.

I've lost track of how many foreign journalists based in Germany, Spain, France that I follow on twitter and have tweeted along the lines of "I knew there was hype about him, but i had no idea he was this good".
 
The Champions League run has almost done that.

I've lost track of how many foreign journalists based in Germany, Spain, France that I follow on twitter and have tweeted along the lines of "I knew there was hype about him, but i had no idea he was this good".

The French RMC commentators are literally in love with Phil. Every game he plays they just go nuts for him. They call him "le petit crack de Manchester City"
 
I've got my eye on next year's Ballon d'or.

The crazy thing about Foden is that he should just be entering the period of his career where players start improving leaps and bounds. 1 full season under his belt and he's a stand out player in the side. Next year he should make another step up, and the year after - but how much further is there to go?

You think about Messi, Ronaldo and the kind of progress they made from 20-22 and he's one of the few talents who could actually make that jump. He probably won't get to that level, but he could. Mbappe was in that position at 20 and I don't think he made the jump. Neymar was in that position and he almost got there but not quite.

To bring it back on topic - Haaland is another at that point. Can he keep scoring at a goal a game and be Ronaldo/Messi level or will he drop back down to the tier of Aguero, Lewandowski, Kane and score 0.7 goals a game.
 
The crazy thing about Foden is that he should just be entering the period of his career where players start improving leaps and bounds. 1 full season under his belt and he's a stand out player in the side. Next year he should make another step up, and the year after - but how much further is there to go?

I'm a bit circumspect in that I know progress isn't always linear. His finishing for example has seemed worse the last eight weeks than at any point in his City career which is odd when you think of his overall development as he plays the minutes.

The key question will be where he plays next season - I hope he remains on the left of the front three!
 
His finishing for example has seemed worse the last eight weeks than at any point in his City career which is odd when you think of his overall development as he plays the minutes.

I mentioned this in his performance thread.

I think it's probably just because he's tired mentally and physically and the occasion is probably getting to him a tiny bit, he had more time with all those chances than he thought he did.

I wouldn't be surprised if he has a slow/poor start to next season. He'll need time off to recover and I'm not sure how much he'll get.
 
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