Following Erling Haaland's transfer to Manchester City, he'll be joining a group of exceptional Premier League forwards.
City confirmed the signing of Haaland earlier this month from Borussia Dortmund, with the striker joining Pep Guardiola's side for a fee of £51 million. Haaland is expected to be one of the top earners at City, alongside Kevin De Bruyne, on around £400,000-a-week.
The Premier League already boasts some of the most talented forwards in the world, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Heung-min Son and Sadio Mane all genuinely world-class strikers. So, how does Haaland compare? To find out, we compared Haaland to the aforementioned five players on FIFA 22.
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Erling Haaland's FIFA 22 stats compared
When signing a striker, arguably the most important consideration should be how clinical they are. So, how will Haaland’s finishing stats compare to the other five on FIFA 22? Finishing stats on FIFA are based on a player’s ability to finish inside the box.
Finishing
Haaland: 94
Ronaldo: 94
Kane: 94
Salah: 93
Son: 88
Mane: 86
According to FIFA 22, Haaland will be the joint-best finisher in the league. Level with two of the best strikers in the world (Kane and Ronaldo) and better than both of the 2021/22 Premier League’s top goalscorers (Salah and Son). City have at times lacked a poacher in the box since Sergio Aguero's departure and so Haaland should be able to offer them just that.
Shooting
Ronaldo: 93
Haaland: 91
Kane: 91
Salah: 89
Son: 87
Mane: 83
The reason Haaland’s rating is lower than Ronaldo's here is that his penalty rating is just 76 (14 below Ronaldo) and his long shots rating is 87 (5 below Ronaldo). This doesn't necessarily mean that Haaland isn't clinical from long range or a good penalty taker. He is still only 22 and has a long time to improve these attributes.
There have been questions about how Haaland’s individual style will adapt to City’s possession-based football, so let’s compare his passing stats.
Short passing
Salah: 85
Kane: 84
Son: 84
Mane: 84
Ronaldo: 80
Haaland : 74
Long passing
Kane: 85
Ronaldo: 77
Salah: 77
Son: 74
Mane: 71
Haaland: 51
Perhaps there should be a bit of worry about how Haaland will adapt. Haaland has comfortably the worst stats on both these lists, despite signing for the team who completed the most passes in the league this season.
To look on the positive side, his long passing will not be needed most of the time, so despite his woeful stats, that should not be much of a worry. For the goals he will bring, a slight drop-off in passing may be worth the sacrifice.
Another area where Haaland has been accused of lacking quality is his dribbling. Let’s take a look at his dribbling stats and see if this is a fair claim.
Dribbling
Salah: 92
Mane: 88
Son: 87
Ronaldo: 86
Kane: 83
Haaland: 78
Another list where City’s new signing finds himself bottom, but his stats are not woeful. 78 is just average, which might be all he needs as a striker. A big part of dribbling is how fast a player is, so let’s move on to Haaland’s speed stats…
Speed
Salah: 91
Mane: 91
Haaland: 88
Son: 88
Ronaldo: 85
Kane: 67
Much more promising stats for Haaland here. His pace will allow him to race in behind Premier League defences and get on the end of all the service City’s midfielders will inevitably give him.
His electrifying pace will also make his dribbling less of a worry, as speed is a crucial part of being a dribbler. The two best dribblers on our lists are Salah and Mane, whose main way of getting past opponents is using their speed, rather than dribbling in tight spaces.
Last but certainly not least, we take a look at Haaland’s physical stats, his strength being the focus.
Strength
Haaland: 93
Kane: 84
Ronaldo: 77
Salah: 75
Mane: 72
Son: 64
Haaland’s clear physical advantage over these attackers bodes well for him. As a striker for City, he may have to hold the ball up at times to allow runners to get in behind him and his strength will help him to do so.
In conclusion, it may take some time for Haaland to adapt to life at City and he may need to improve some parts of his game. However, according to FIFA 22, this should not stop him from scoring goals, which is what he has been signed to do. His only potential flaw could be how he keeps the ball, but he has time to improve this aspect of his game.
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