Erling Haaland could face the same problem at Manchester City that Romelu Lukaku has at Chelsea.
That is the bombshell verdict of Starsport columnist and Sky TV pundit Paul Merson, who thinks City should be signing Harry Kane instead. City hope to pull off a blockbuster summer transfer coup by breaking the bank for Borussia Dortmund star Haaland, who has scored 25 goals in 26 games this season.
But former Arsenal and England great Merson reckons Haaland may not suit the way City play - in the same way that Lukaku has been a bad fit at Chelsea. They paid £97million to sign the Belgium star from Inter Milan but he has only managed five Premier League goals and often been overlooked in favour of Kai Havertz.
Writing in his Daily Star column, Merson said: "City getting Erling Haaland won't make them unstoppable - I'd rather have Harry Kane! Kane is a better player in my opinion. Haaland is lightning quick. But Kane is better all-round player who is proven in this league and you know he'll be a hit for you.
"City could spend all the money in the world on Haaland. I still don't know if he'd be a hit. Sign Kane? Bang - 30 goals. No worries. And how many assists as well? This League title would have been done and dusted if City had had a centre forward. If they'd signed Kane last summer it would already be over.
"Haaland has plenty of pace and is a good finisher. He will score goals for City if they get him, and it looks like they will. But there won't be a lot of grass in front of him at City. Look at Romelu Lukaku. He has the same problem.
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"They are both players who need grass to run into. Space to attack. But against Chelsea and City there is none because teams drop off and defend deep in numbers. It won't be as easy for Haaland as he probably thinks at City. He probably thinks he's going to score 30 goals for them easy. I'm not so sure.
"A lot of his goals are scored running on to through-balls one on one with a defender or the keeper. That won't happen much at the Etihad against a packed defence. The way City play might not suit his game. He'll have to learn some new tricks, and that will be the test.
"When Manchester United brought Jadon Sancho in from Germany they must have thought he would guarantee them goals as well. Sancho absolutely ripped it up in the Bundesliga but has struggled over here. It's hard. It's a totally different league.
"Kai Havertz found it tough to begin with as well. He was sensational in Germany, but has only reason started looking good here in the last few months. So, no, I don't think signing Haaland would make City unstoppable. Liverpool look like they will be in there whatever happens."
