Erling Haaland has developed into one of the best strikers in the world at Manchester City.
Having moved to the Manchester club from Borussia Dortmund during the summer of 2022, the striker has gone on to feature in 140 games for Pep Guardiola’s side, scoring 120 goals and assisting a further 20, while winning the PFA Player’s Player of the Year award during his first season.
Haaland has impressed his Man City teammates since his arrival and is now considered by many in the football world as the best striker on the planet.
One man who knows a thing or two about strikers is former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney and the Englishman has heaped praise on the Norwegian superstar, however, he was named the one area of his game that he needs to improve.
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Wayne Rooney says Erling Haaland needs to improve his heading
The current campaign has been Haaland’s worst since moving to Man City as Guardiola’s squad have struggled as a whole.
Haaland is currently out injured and having returned to the bench for the Wolves game last Friday night, Tim Sherwood believes the Man City superstar could cause problems for Guardiola.
When asked by Jamie Carragher who he would want as his striker if he were to pick a team right now, Rooney selected Haaland, although the former Man United star would like to see the 24-year-old work on his heading.
“As good as Isak has been, Haaland has everything. Actually, he is not the best at heading the ball, that’s the one downfall he has got with his size,” Rooney said on The Overlap’s Fan Debate.
“Like I was saying before, his timing is off a bit. You can see that he gets up too early at times and he’s on the way down when he is heading the ball.
“But I think he is, even this season the goals he has scored with the injuries he has had, he’d be the one I want.”
Erling Haaland’s record with his head at Man City
Despite some struggles this season, Carragher believes Haaland has been Man City’s best player, and the 24-year-old could go to another level if he improves his heading ability.
Since moving to the Premier League in 2022, Haaland has scored 84 goals in the English top flight with only 15 coming via his head.
The striker is averaging five headed goals a season and he is on track to achieve that again during the current campaign as the Man City star is tied in second place for the most headers scored with four, three behind Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood.
| Player | Club | Goals |
| Chris Wood | Nottingham Forest | 7 |
| Erling Haaland | Man City | 4 |
| Alexander Isak | Newcastle | 4 |
| Ollie Watkins | Aston Villa | 4 |
| Yoane Wissa | Brentford | 4 |
Haaland rarely used his head at Borussia Dortmund and it is an attribute he has improved since moving to Manchester. However, there are more levels the Norwegian star can unlock and once he does, there might be no stopping him.
