Steve McManaman Questions Erling Haaland's Future at Barcelona

Steve McManaman is not buying into the idea that Erling Haaland is already destined for Barcelona – and he is not convinced the Catalan club could even afford him if they tried.

Asked whether Barca might be quietly positioning themselves for a future move for the Manchester City striker, the former City winger – speaking to GOAL courtesy of ESPN on Disney+ – cut through the noise.

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

“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.”

Haaland’s name hovers over every conversation about elite No.9s, but McManaman’s real concern lies with what Barcelona actually have right now at the top end of the pitch.

He has watched them closely. The numbers worry him less than the profiles.

“But I agree, 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?”

That question hangs over Barca’s squad. The options are talented, explosive, unpredictable – but not classic penalty-box predators.

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

It is a front line built on movement and chaos rather than a single focal point. McManaman has seen this movie before with Barcelona. The script keeps ending the same way: doubts, then domination.

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

One player, for him, summed up that ability to bend a squad to its needs: 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!”

That flexibility has repeatedly bailed Barca out. It still does not change McManaman’s underlying view of what is missing.

“So they continue to surprise me, but I'm the same, I still think they need a positional number nine,” he said. “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.”

Real Madrid, he pointed out, have approached the problem differently, bringing in Carlos Espi and trusting a more defined goal threat through the middle.

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

Barcelona, by contrast, are built to share the burden. McManaman expects the goals to come – just not from one single monster of a centre-forward.

“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,” he said. “They tend to spread it around a little bit more evenly than Real Madrid.”

So Haaland to Barcelona? For now it remains exactly what McManaman called it: mythical. The reality, as he sees it, is a Barca side still hunting that pure No.9 while somehow finding ways to blow teams away without one.