Claude Makelele has suggested that Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is the fastest player in the world.
During his playing career, the Frenchman represented some of Europe’s biggest clubs such as Real Madrid, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, lifting numerous trophies along the way.
Now though, the former midfielder has been sharing his thoughts on some of today’s top-level players, with one City figure getting a special mention.
Makelele says Haaland is the fastest around
In a recent video shared on Goal’s official Tik Tok channel, Makelele was asked to build his ideal footballer by picking a current player based on their right foot, left foot, speed, strength and football intelligence.
When asked to pick a player based on their pace, the 51-year-old went for Haaland.
Since joining the Manchester club back in the 2022 summer transfer window from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth £51m, the centre-forward has scored 79 goals in 83 appearances.
While the City star is undeniably known for his prolific goalscoring, his pace, as Makelele mentioned, has also proved to have been a big asset for him.
Looking back to the previous Premier League campaign, Haaland clocked a top speed of 36.22 km/h, making him the eighth-fastest player in the division behind the likes of Kyle Walker (37.31 km/h) and Matheus Nunes (36.32 km/h).
With that in mind, while there may be faster players in Europe right now, the fact that Makelele picked the City star for his pace suggests to us that the former Chelsea midfielder sees it as a big factor in what makes Haaland such a dangerous striker and unique player.
Moving forward, if the 23-year-old can use his pace to score more goals for his side throughout the remainder of the season, he’ll give the Citizens a great chance of regaining the three titles he helped them win last term.
