Barcelona's Need for a True No.9 Amid Haaland Speculation
Steve McManaman is not buying into the idea that Barcelona are quietly plotting to reunite Erling Haaland with La Liga any time soon – but he does think the Catalan club are still missing one crucial piece.
The former Manchester City winger, speaking to GOAL on behalf of ESPN on Disney+, was asked whether Barca might be playing the “long game” with Haaland, whose future is already the subject of familiar speculation about a move to Spain.
“Maybe,” McManaman admitted. “Everybody's got this mythical thing that Erling wants to play in Spain, don't they?”
Then came the reality check.
“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 financial side is only part of the equation. The other is how Barcelona keep winning titles while, in his eyes, walking a tightrope in attack.
“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 doing so, underlined the issue.
“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 names are exciting. The profile, less so for a traditional striker role. McManaman has seen this movie before with Barca.
“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.”
That ability to bend the squad to their needs, to find solutions from within, still astonishes him – and no player sums that up better than Eric Garcia.
“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!”
They keep surprising him, but one conviction remains.
“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.”
While Barca juggle roles and spread responsibility, Real Madrid have gone down a slightly different route with their latest attacking addition.
“Madrid have brought [Carlos] Espi, scored a few goals already, again a different type of player,” McManaman noted.
Even there, though, he circles back to Barcelona’s way of sharing the goals around – and he is bullish about what their forwards can produce if they stay on the pitch.
Haaland or no Haaland, McManaman sees a Barcelona side that can still “obliterate everybody” – but with one glaring, old-fashioned question hanging over them: where is the true No.9?
