Disgraced pundit Richard Keys has suggested that Manchester City star Erling Haaland could be seeking an exit from the club after a string of poor performances in a sky blue shirt.
He cited City’s most recent game as an example, when City were defeated 1-0 by Premier League title rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. In that game, his attacking presence was effectively nullified by a combination of Declan Rice and William Saliba.
What did Richard Keys say regarding Erling Haaland?
Writing on his official blog, Keys penned: “City are the most expensive team ever assembled and they boast a front man who is arguably the best in the world.
“They starved him of the ball again on Sunday and he left a frustrated, disgruntled shadow of what we saw last season. Ok. City are enjoyable to watch if you like your football served up in precise exhibition moments.
“And Haaland couldn’t have had any complaints about how things went last season, but I guarantee you the way Madrid and Bellingham are playing right now won’t have escaped his notice.
“We read that City want him to sign a new deal. If what we saw Sunday goes on much longer it’ll be Haaland wanting to do the escaping. It’s one goal in six now – and it’s not his fault. He can’t score if he isn’t seeing the ball.”
Will Haaland leave Manchester City?
Keys has become infamous for his provocative, outrageous style of punditry – his suggestion that Haaland could leave Manchester City falls comfortably into this category.
Why would Haaland leave a club that is not only paying him extremely handsomely, but with whom he has recently won the European treble with? To suggest that he would be considering an Etihad exit, purely because of a minor goal drought, is hilarious.
Of course, Haaland could leave City if he wished to do so – nothing in football is sacred. However, any club wishing to buy him would have to pay the Citizens an astronomical amount of money – he is arguably the most valuable player in the world right now.
According to Transfermarkt, Haaland has the highest value of any player in the world at roughly £156 million, alongside PSG’s Kylian Mbappe.