´Enigma´ Haaland offers too much threat to be left out, says Mills

Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills believes Erling Haaland is an “enigma”, which is why it is so hard to leave him out of the side.

Haaland has been a revelation since joining City in July 2023, and he has won the Premier League Golden Boot in both seasons so far, while also scooping up the Premier League Player of the Year award in his debut campaign.

He has scored 105 goals in 114 appearances in all competitions for City, netting 16 times this term already.

Haaland is averaging 1.09 goals per game in the Premier League this season, after making a record-breaking start to the campaign in which he scored 10 times in the opening six matches.

Mills, who played for City between 2004 and 2009, thinks the 24-year-old’s high-scoring record comes down to the efficient way he approaches matches.

“Erling Haaland is a bit of an enigma,” Mills told Stats Perform. “He’s not your usual centre forward.

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“We expect our centre forwards to either drop deep, be a bit of a playmaker and create chances, or put on a high press, work the channels, and have lots of touches, closing people down.

“Haaland stands in the middle of the pitch, makes the runs when he needs to, is very efficient, and puts the ball in the back of the net more often than not. He gets himself in good positions.

“We can talk about him missing big chances, but he’s also scored an awful lot of goals. That’s the thing — a centre forward will always say you’re better off being in the position and missing the chance than not being in the position because the goals will come. Everybody misses chances.”

Haaland also set the record for most Premier League goals in a single season in 2022-23, with 36, and he once again sits top of the goalscoring charts this term, though he has seen his goals dry up somewhat in recent weeks after his lightning-quick start.

The Norwegian netted his 12th Premier League goal of the campaign in City’s 2-1 loss to Brighton before the international break, ending a run of three games in all competitions without a goal.

Nobody has had more shots than Haaland in the English top-flight this season (55), while only Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins (11) has missed more big chances than him (10).

Mills suggested that Haaland is held to a higher standard than other forwards in the competition, but says even when he is not scoring, he offers too much to be left out of the starting line-up.

“When we talk about patchy form for Erling Haaland, patchy form for him is still way better than most other players’ form. It’s better than 95% of Premier League strikers,” Mills added.

“That’s why he gets criticised for missing big chances, because we expect him to score every single time. But he’s just different.

“I think it’s very, very difficult to leave him out because he offers so much. He’s so big, strong, powerful, and scores all types of weird and interesting goals at times.

“He occupies three or four defenders because they’re all worried about his pace in behind, his aerial ability, or what he’s doing. Leaving him out would be a big, big call.

“It’s not like he’s going through a drought. An Erling Haaland drought is that he hasn’t scored for two games. There are centre forwards all over the world who would love that to be their record, not their drought.

“So, I think we need to have some perspective. Yes, he might miss one or two chances, but he’s a massive threat and a fantastic goalscorer.”