In recent years, there has been a debate at Manchester City over who is the better striker between Sergio Aguero and Erling Haaland.
Well, it’s not an easy question to answer considering how long and successful the Argentine striker was at City.
Aguero has played a total of 390 games for East Mantunia, a record that speaks volumes about how good he is. The Argentina international has 101 caps and has scored 260 goals in that time. You think it’s foolish to disagree with him on this argument.
But looking at the numbers Haaland is putting up, he is certainly better than Aguero in the eyes of many.
Why Haaland is Man City’s best striker
This is a debate for which there is currently no correct answer. However, given Haaland’s trajectory to date, it is hard to imagine that he will not be able to overtake Aguero’s record as City’s all-time leading scorer.
After just 161 appearances in the famous sky blue shirt, the 25-year-old has already scored 143 goals and provided 22 assists. He is involved in more goals than every game on average. That’s why Jamie Carragher described Haaland as “the greatest goalscorer in the history of English football”.
In fact, his form this season has been astronomical. He has already found the back of the net 19 times in just 15 games. Miraculously, he doesn’t add up to his 11 hat-tricks for the club, but he does score twice in a game six times.
Haaland is an absolutely ridiculous number nine who can do everything from good link-up play to decisive finishes inside the box. His goal against Arsenal was perhaps the best example of this, with the striker starting the move by tucking the ball into the far corner, then lunging forward and driving the ball back again to score the goal.
The Norwegian is great, but City lack a natural striker to replace him in case of injury. If so, the answer could be an academy star who one day wears the number nine shirt after Haaland.
Man City’s internal shirt number 9 after Haaland
Haaland’s injury history is not perfect. The striker has missed 26 games since joining City, and City have no natural replacement. Omar Marmouche can lead the line, but like Julian Alvarez, he excels in a slightly deeper role.
Fortunately for the Citizens, they may have the perfect striker in their academy in Mahamadou Sangare.
The France Under-18 centre-forward only joined the club from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, but has already excelled with the youth team.
Across all competitions for City’s prestigious academy this season, Sangare has scored nine times in just 14 games. This includes three goals in four games in the UEFA Youth League.
In fact, it was at this tournament that Sangaré produced his most impressive performance to date. The 18-year-old shone against AS Monaco Under-19s, creating two chances before registering a hat-trick and assisting a goal.
Sangaré vs Monaco U19 | |
|---|---|
status | number |
touch | 35 |
Opponent’s half pass completed | 14/18 |
won an aerial battle | 5/6 |
shot | 4 |
the goal | 3 |
An opportunity has arisen | 2 |
assist | 1 |
Sofa score statistics | |
One person who rates the striker highly is football scout Antonio Mango. He called Sangare a “prolific” No. 9, complementing the fact that he was one of PSG’s standout young players last season. He scored 33 points in 35 games for the U19 national team.
Indeed, City seem to see the quality he brings to their youth team. It will be interesting to see how quickly Sangare’s development continues. He certainly has an eye for goal and will hope to be able to apply that at the top level.
Of course, the 18-year-old is far from reaching Haaland’s level, but with his natural scoring instincts there’s no reason he can’t establish himself in the first team. Perhaps he would be the natural successor to Haaland’s iconic No.9 shirt.
