Barcelona's Future Without Haaland: McManaman's Take

Steve McManaman is not buying into the idea that Barcelona are quietly clearing a path for Erling Haaland.

The former Manchester City winger, speaking to GOAL courtesy of ESPN on Disney+ ahead of Atletico Madrid’s trip to Sevilla, was asked whether Barca’s current squad build suggests they are playing the long game for the Norwegian. He didn’t dismiss it outright, but he hardly sounded convinced.

“Maybe,” he said. “Everybody's got this mythical thing that Erling wants to play in Spain, don't they?”

The theory is simple: Barcelona trim down their options at centre-forward, keep the wage bill as lean as possible and, when the time is right, pounce for Haaland. McManaman immediately pointed to the obvious obstacle.

“I mean whether Barcelona could even afford Erling is another question, so maybe they are playing the long game, I have no idea. Erling seems very, very happy at City – signed a huge long-term contract last year didn't he.”

For McManaman, the more pressing issue is what Barcelona look like right now, not in some hypothetical Haaland future. He still sees a squad light on orthodox strikers.

“I thought they were quite short up front last year and they went and won the league quite comfortably,” he said. “Robert's gone, Ferran's gone, who is their centre-forward this year?”

He ran through the options and, in his eyes, none of them are a classic No.9.

“I think [Karim] Adeyemi’s not really an out-and-out number nine, he's more of a typical speedster isn't he, you've got Raphinha, you've got [Anthony] Gordon, you've got Lamine [Yamal].”

The pattern, he argued, is familiar. Barcelona look unbalanced on paper, then tear through the season anyway.

“Whenever I looked at Barcelona last year they did the same, the year before they did the same. I looked at various areas and thought they look short there, they look short there, and then they go and obliterate everybody.”

One player summed that up for him: Eric Garcia. A defender by trade, but used all over the pitch.

“I look at Eric Garcia, he played about four or five positions last year and I'm thinking to myself ‘can he play there, can he play there, and actually he can, he can play bloody everywhere!’”

That flexibility keeps catching him out, but it doesn’t change his core view of what the squad still lacks.

“So they continue to surprise me, but I'm the same, I still think they need a positional number nine. Whether they have one in La Masia, coming up as a youngster who can do a job for you for maybe 10-15 games is another thing.”

Across Spain, Real Madrid have gone in a different direction, bringing in Carlos Espi, who has already found the net a few times and offers another profile in attack.

“Madrid have brought [Carlos] Espi, scored a few goals already, again a different type of player.”

Barcelona, by contrast, are built to share the goals around. McManaman expects that to continue.

“But you know Lamine will get 20 if he stays fit, Raphinha will get another 25 if he stays fit, and Adeyemi I bet he'll get 20, and Gordon will, if he plays enough games, get 20 goals. They tend to spread it around a little bit more evenly than Real Madrid.”

So the picture is clear. While the rumours swirl around Haaland and Spain, McManaman sees a Barcelona side winning by committee, improvising with what they have, and daring everyone to question them again.