Former Manchester City and England defender Danny Mills believes City faces the same squad-building dilemma with Erling Haaland that Bayern Munich experienced with Robert Lewandowski and now with Harry Kane.
Mills, who earned 19 caps for England and played for clubs including Leeds United, Manchester City, and Middlesbrough, was discussing the difficulty of finding quality backup strikers when a world-class forward is firmly established as the undisputed first choice.
“They won the league pretty much
without Sergio Aguero, who was obviously absolutely outstanding, and they found a way to do that. It’s very, very difficult to bring in an out-and-out center-forward when you’ve got Erling Haaland in place because you have to bring in someone that is happy to sit on the bench,” Mills told BOYLE Sports, who offer the latest football odds. “There aren’t too many top strikers that are gonna come in and be happy knowing that they’re gonna be second choice, of high enough quality to be able to replace him if something does happen.
“So you’re kind of stuck in a catch-22. Look at Lewandowski at Dortmund or Bayern, even Kane now. Who would go to Bayern Munich behind Kane and think they’re going to play? So you’re looking at players that are undoubtedly good enough but happy to sit on the bench. There aren‘t too many strikers like that in the world. So it’s difficult.
“Haaland is a fantastic talent. You have to do your best to keep him fit. You build your team around it, as all teams have done in the past with the likes of Messi or Ronaldo, players like that. What would Chelsea have been without Didier Drogba in those big, important moments? They’re huge players that you take out. They are not irreplaceable, but it’s very, very difficult to replace them like for like.”
Mills makes a fair point, and Bayern Munich supporters have seen this dilemma firsthand. Finding a striker capable of challenging Kane or Lewandowski is one thing; convincing that player to accept a backup role is an entirely different challenge.
When we see so many rumors with links to backups for Kane, they are almost always met with skepticism for this exact reason.
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