Since Erling Haaland signed for Manchester City in the summer of 2022, he has been competing with Harry Kane to be recognised as the best striker in the world; a debate that divides opinion.
Haaland certainly outclassed Kane in his debut season at City — scoring 36 goals in the Premier League while the latter bagged 30 for Tottenham Hotspur while the former also won the treble.
The Manchester City marksman was outscored by the Bayern Munich marksman last season — who scored 44 goals in all competitions while the 24-year-old registered 38 — missing several games due to injury.
In both seasons, the Norwegian has managed to accrue silverware while Kane’s search for a major trophy still continues.
This season, Kane has 17 goals in all competitions while Haaland has 15.
But there is plenty of time left in the campaign for either goalscorer to outscore the other.
Darren Bent says Harry Kane wouldn’t start over Erling Haaland at Man City
The England captain will have all eyes on him to help Bayern Munich win the Bundesliga after their shock third-placed finish last season.
As for the City talisman, he already has two league titles including a treble to his name and another seasons of winning major silverware would further cement his status as a potential legend of the game already.
Darren Bent feels that as brilliant as Kane is, he would not get into Manchester City’s XI over Haaland.
Bent said on talkSPORT: “I think it’s safe to say he’d get in every team in the world bar maybe one and that’s [Erling] Haaland, Man City. I’d have him over [Kylian] Mbappe, centre-forward.”
However, Glenn Hoddle feels Kane would have “walked into Man City” as their leading striker if they had signed him in 2021.
Ian Wright claimed if Kane played for Manchester City, he could score 47 league goals in a single season.
Harry Redkapp feels Kane is better than Haaland, despite the latter’s heroics in English football.
Troy Deeney revealed why Kane wouldn’t outscore Haaland at Man City
In June last year, Troy Deeney stated Kane would not outscore Haaland even if he did play for Manchester City.
“It’s just my opinion. Him [Harry Kane] dropping in as he does…Kevin’s [De Bruyne] going, ‘move out of my way.’ [Ilkay] Gundogan’s going, ‘get out of my space.’ You need to be a special type of person to just stay on the line and your job is to stretch is to let these players have the ball.”
Ultimately, Haaland has come to the England and helped Manchester City further establish their dominance over European football in a way Kane has been unable to.
The former Spurs skipper is an elite striker.
But as Troy Deeney stressed, Kane is also far similar to Manchester City’s technicians such as Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan in the sense of being effective from deeper positions.
Haaland’s single-mindedness towards chasing goals in and around the penalty box is what makes him particularly unique in this City side and why it is virtually impossible for them to upgrade on him.
