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On one level, the signing looked terrifying for the rest of the league. Manchester City has won four of the last five Premier League titles. It has been the top scorer in the Premier League in each of those five seasons. And to that side it added, for a bargain price of $60 million, Erling Haaland, a powerful and prolific 22-year-old widely recognized as the most promising young center forward in Europe. How could this not yield even more goals, even more success?
The answer, perhaps, came on Saturday in the Community Shield. Haaland is not a classic Pep Guardiola-style forward. He looks as though he was brought to life in a tower at midnight during a storm. He batters defenders out of the way, at times makes the game look gloriously simple, barging through opponents and smashing in shots. It may be that he gives City an edge it has previously lacked in the biggest European games. But equally there is a risk that he disrupts a precision-based system that has brought so much success.
