Erling Haaland Has Already Set the Standard. Now He Has a Different Challenge at Manchester City
- Footdudes
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago
Erling Haaland enters the 2026/27 season with very little left to prove about his ability to score goals. The Manchester City striker finished last season as the Premier League's leading scorer with 27 goals, winning his third Golden Boot in four seasons. Across all competitions, he scored 38 goals and provided nine assists in 52 appearances, underlining how consistently productive he remains even when City's overall campaign does not reach the level expected of them.
The more interesting question now concerns what Haaland's role will look like under Enzo Maresca. Manchester City are entering a new era following Pep Guardiola's departure, and the squad around their No. 9 is changing as well. Rodri has completed his move to Barcelona, Bernardo Silva has left for Real Madrid, and City have already invested heavily in Elliot Anderson while continuing to reshape the midfield.
Haaland, therefore, is not simply starting another season as City's main striker. He is becoming one of the few established reference points in a team that is still working out what it wants to become.
His numbers have made the expectations almost impossible to raise
Haaland's Premier League record since arriving at Manchester City has already reached an extraordinary level. He scored 36 goals in his first league season, followed that with 27 in 2023/24, remained prolific with 22 in a more difficult 2024/25 campaign, and returned to 27 last season. The 2025/26 Golden Boot was his third, leaving him one behind the competition record jointly held by Thierry Henry and Mohamed Salah.
That consistency changes the way Haaland is judged. A season in which he scores 27 Premier League goals would be regarded as exceptional for almost any other striker, but for Haaland it can create the impression that he has somehow fallen short if he does not approach the 35-goal mark.
The pressure is particularly relevant this season because Manchester City themselves need to improve. Arsenal won the Premier League last season, while City finished second, and the club have now moved into a managerial transition that will inevitably change some of the team's habits.
If City become less dominant in possession or create fewer high-quality chances during the transition, Haaland may have to find different ways to influence matches.
Maresca may ask more from Haaland than goals
One of the interesting aspects of Haaland's development has been the gradual expansion of his game. His reputation remains overwhelmingly tied to finishing, but his contribution last season included eight Premier League assists, giving him 35 combined goals and assists and putting him among the division's most productive attackers.
That does not mean Haaland suddenly needs to become a playmaking centre-forward. Manchester City would be better served by preserving the qualities that make him so difficult to defend rather than asking him to imitate another type of striker.
However, Maresca may need Haaland to become more involved when City face opponents who defend deeper and deny him the space he prefers to attack. Holding up the ball, linking with attacking midfielders and creating opportunities for teammates can become increasingly important when the team is unable to generate the same number of chances through sustained possession.
The change should be gradual rather than dramatic. Haaland's greatest value still comes from his movement inside the penalty area, his physical presence and his ability to turn relatively small openings into goals.
Manchester City's midfield changes could affect his game
This is where Rodri's departure becomes relevant to Haaland.
For years, Manchester City have been exceptionally good at controlling territory and sustaining attacks around the opposition penalty area. Rodri was central to that process because his positioning and passing allowed City to keep possession while also protecting them against counterattacks.
With Rodri now at Barcelona, Maresca has to construct a different midfield. City have already signed Elliot Anderson for a reported £116 million and are pursuing Lille teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi, while the club have also been linked with another established midfielder.
The consequences for Haaland could be significant.
A different midfield may mean more transitional moments, fewer long periods of controlled possession and potentially more situations where Haaland receives the ball with space in front of him rather than inside an organised attacking structure.
That could actually suit him in certain matches.
Haaland's combination of speed, strength and movement makes him particularly dangerous when defenders are running toward their own goal. If Maresca can create a team that transitions more aggressively without losing the control City have traditionally valued, Haaland could benefit from the change.
The challenge is keeping Haaland involved when City dominate
There is another side to the problem.
Manchester City will still have many matches in which they dominate possession and face opponents who defend with a low block. In those games, Haaland's movement has to remain connected to the way City build attacks.
This is where the relationship between Haaland and the players behind him becomes so important.
A striker can score only when the team creates the right conditions, and Haaland's best City seasons have been built around an extraordinary supply line. The departure of several experienced players means Maresca has to establish new combinations around him, particularly in midfield and the wide areas.
Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Rayan Cherki and the other attacking players will therefore have an important role in determining whether Haaland can maintain his extraordinary numbers.
The striker himself has already demonstrated that he can adapt. His eight league assists last season were a career high in the Premier League, and they suggest there is room for his overall attacking contribution to grow even if his goal total remains around the same level.
Haaland's next milestone is about more than the Golden Boot
There is an obvious individual target waiting for him.
With three Premier League Golden Boots already secured, Haaland needs only one more to equal Henry and Salah's record of four. That would place him alongside two of the competition's greatest goalscorers and further strengthen the argument that his Premier League career has already reached historic territory.
But winning another Golden Boot should not be the biggest measure of his season.
Manchester City need Haaland to be the attacking constant while the rest of the team changes around him. If Maresca can establish a new midfield and a more balanced structure, Haaland's scoring opportunities should remain plentiful. If the transition is less smooth, his ability to contribute outside the penalty area could become much more important.
That is why this season could tell us something new about him.
Until now, Haaland's Manchester City career has largely been about adapting an already dominant team around one of the world's most prolific strikers. The circumstances are different now because the team itself is being rebuilt.
He could become the defining player of the next City era
There is a temptation to see Manchester City's post-Guardiola period as the beginning of a completely new project, but Haaland gives the club an important connection to what came before.
He is still only 26, already has 150 goals for Manchester City, and signed a long-term contract that keeps him at the club until 2034.
That makes him much more than a striker who happens to be part of the current squad. He is one of the players around whom the next version of Manchester City can be built.
Maresca's challenge will be to make sure that does not become an overly simple strategy of giving Haaland the ball and expecting him to solve every attacking problem. The best version of City will still need variety, creativity and control, while Haaland should remain the player who turns that work into goals.
The Norwegian has already established an extraordinary standard at Manchester City. The next stage of his career is about showing that he can remain just as influential while the structure around him changes.
If Maresca succeeds in that transition, Haaland could end up being the defining attacking figure of Manchester City's next era rather than simply the last superstar of Guardiola's.
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