After months of speculation, Manchester City have finally confirmed the signing of Erling Haaland, with the Borussia Dortmund star set to join the Premier League this summer.
It’s a superstar deal that could change the English top-flight for years to come if the 21-year-old strikers hits the ground running with City, with Haaland having the potential to transform Pep Guardiola’s side into one of the best in Premier League history.
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As well as taking City to new heights, the signing of Haaland also once again sees the Manchester giants flex their muscles over how incredible their squad depth is, with the Norwegian international likely to be the new leading striker in the XI in every game when fit.
And thus Haaland’s signing possesses a question, what would City’s best starting line-up look like, and who would make the backup XI? At HITC Sport, we take a look.
The main XI – Haaland leads for City as Foden and Mahrez join the attack
With everyone at City fit, this XI is most likely what we will see from Guardiola next season, with Ederson Moraes starting between the sticks with Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte ahead of him in central defence, with the reliable pairing of Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo acting as fullbacks.
In the midfield, Rodri will start in the defensive midfield role as he has done to brilliant effect this season with Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva, who have been excellent this year in both scoring and providing goals, joining the Spanish international in the centre of the park.
Finally, leading the attack, Haaland will take the role of striker with Phil Foden returning to his more familiar left-wing position as Riyad Mahrez slots in at the right, with the Algerian international this season having the best goalscoring campaign in his entire career.
As well as proving plenty of goals beyond Haaland, this XI is stacked with creative quality that will be crucial to the striking phenom if he is to have the service to score goal after goal for City, something Guardiola and fans will be expecting from the forward next season.
The backup XI – Loan stars Herrera and Alvarez start alongside Grealish and Sterling
City’s main XI could be up there as one of the best starting line-ups in world football, and their backup is nothing to shrug off either, with the Manchester side making it a mission of theirs to have quality options in every position of the pitch.
In goal, Zack Steffen will command the sticks with John Stones and Nathan Ake protecting his goal, with Oleksandr Zinchenko taking the left-back spot and City academy captain CJ Egan-Riley starting at right-back, with the Manchester side currently having no other options in the role beyond Walker and Cancelo.
Midfield is where the XI gets interesting, though, as we have placed loan star Yangel Herrera in the defensive midfield position with Fernandinho set to leave City this summer. Ahead of the Venezuelan international are Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish, two players who are guaranteed starters almost anywhere else in world football.
The frontline sees another loan player take up a spot in the XI as Julian Alvarez leads the attack, with £49m superstar Raheem Sterling out on the left and Gabriel Jesus starting on the right in what is, on a paper, a frightening attack.
These XI’s might seem like the world of fiction, but the reality is that this will be what Premier League and European sides have to face next season against City, who could dominate football for good following the blockbuster signing of Haaland.
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