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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Connor O'Neill

'Fairly early' - Robbie Fowler makes blunt Erling Haaland Liverpool point

Robbie Fowler believes there hasn't been a forward like Erling Haaland for some time and the biggest compliment he can pay him is that he wished he played for Liverpool.

Haaland emerged from the bench to score an injury-time penalty as 10-man Manchester City snatched a 2-1 win against Fulham at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon. It was his 23rd goal in his 17th appearance for City since joining the club in the summer.

The forward, who had started on the bench after missing City's last two games with a foot problem, joined Pep Guardiola's side in the summer from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth £51m. The Etihad club paid the 22-year-old's release clause and expect to pay £85.5m in total when agent fees, signing bonuses and other costs are taken into account.

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But for Fowler, who also played for City himself, he wishes the Norway international was leading the line for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

“Haaland is an incredible player but I think it is tough to put him into a bracket. He has played 10/11 games in the Premier League, but if he keeps going the way he's going, which is incredible, then of course he’ll be the best,” he told FairBettingSites.

“It is fairly early but I love the simplicity of him as a striker. When we think about football and strikers, I don't know if it's the modern game but as a striker, you want to get the ball and get more involved in the game. Not many have the desire to get in the box like Haaland has.

“If you look at him, he’ll want to link a little bit outside the box but his main bread and butter is that he wants to get on the end of a cross into the box. So, to see him sprinting and using every sign to get into the areas for a tap-in, I really love that as a striker.

“We haven't seen a player like Haaland for a number of years. I know formations are different but he’ll get the ball, and play outside but he’ll want to get into the box. He’s not bothered about assists, he wants to score goals.

“He’s big, he’s powerful, and he's got every attribute that you would say the perfect number nine is. He’ll score goals, he’ll win headers, he’s hard to knock off the ball, he’s got pace and he’s got power.

“The biggest accolade I could give him is I would have loved to have seen him at Liverpool. There are certain areas of the game where players always stand out, we could be looking at Haaland as the main man who stands out over everyone else and he has certainly started off the right way.”

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