Pep Guardiola does not think Erling Haaland would have been welcomed at all clubs as he has been greeted by the Manchester City dressing room.
Haaland has started ridiculously well in English football, scoring 19 goals in 12 games since his £51m move from Dortmund and shattering a number of Premier League and Champions League records already. His achievements have maintained the frenzy around him, with fans and media from all over the world desperate to know everything they can about the goalscorer and the 22-year-old behind the numbers.
That has been a change for City — a club and team that prides itself on the collective work ethic where no one player is bigger than anybody else. Haaland has settled into this and arrived into the dressing room with humility, but at the same time nearly all of the attention given to the team this season has been for the Norwegian.
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Guardiola does not mind the attention, but believes that there are other dressing rooms in world football where players who have won as much as the City squad have would take issue with so much of the spotlight being focused on the new signing. That, as much as the performances on the pitch, is why the manager remains so enthused with the group of players at his disposal.
"Every press conference I have done this season, out of 50 questions 45 are for Erling. For me, it is ok. We are fortunate that the guys who are here accept it perfectly," he said.
"There are other guys who would not like it. Guys who had won four or five Premier Leagues and yet all the talk was about Erling? They would not like it in other clubs.
"Here, they are delighted because we have Kevin [De Bruyne] who is an exceptional person. He is happy to have him because both know they can be better playing alongside. The same for all of them.
"We don't have players that say why do they just talk about him where at many clubs it happens. We don't have that. This is why it is a joy to train these players."
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