Liverpool have been one of the best teams in Europe over the past three or four years but they are peaking at the same time when Man City are in world-class form and as per Jamie O’Hara, City’s signing of Erling Haaland could be even more ominous for Jurgen Klopp.
A team like Liverpool should realistically be winning every major trophy but Man City have always been one step ahead of them. Apart from the Champions League, Man City have overall been the slightly better side in every other tournament.
The pundit believes Guardiola has managed to sort out his final major crisis by signing Erling Haaland and if Liverpool do not come up with a response then they will fall miles behind.
O’Hara said on talkSPORT: “I think that they’ve got to react to the fact that Man City have signed [Erling] Haaland.
“That’s the final piece to the jigsaw, you’d say. Man City are going to probably win the Premier League without a striker, really.
“They’ve played most of the season without one. When you bring in Haaland who, for me, is going to be a complete superstar in the Premier League, Liverpool have to react and bring in someone big as well because otherwise, I feel that they will end up getting left behind.
“Man City have spent £100million on Grealish and you’d have to say that hasn’t been the best signing that they could have made, but they’re going to win the Premier League.
Haaland leaves Dortmund with a ridiculous goal scoring record 😳 pic.twitter.com/pCnxWqKwd5
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 14, 2022
“When you bring in Haaland, now you’re talking. That is a big step up in quality, for me. That’s one hell of a signing and Liverpool need to react to that.”
Will Man City widen the gap with Liverpool next season?
Even without a world-class centre-forward Man City are causing mayhem this season so we can only imagine what they will do with Erling Haaland upfront.
Liverpool are the only side preventing Manchester City from total dominance but Klopp will need to refresh his squad in order to maintain that pressure.
He has made a world-class signing in the form of Luis Diaz but now he’s at the risk of losing players like Mo Salah and Sadio Mane. There’s a big chance that both these players might leave in the next one or two years and Klopp will need to do a lot of scouting to be able to find competent replacements.
We don’t think Liverpool will spend crazy amounts of money to sign new players because that has not been their approach under Jurgen Klopp but they will definitely have to come up with a response to this Erling Haaland signing. Man City have already stamped their authority in the domestic circuit and if Haaland can adjust quickly then they have a very realistic chance of winning the Champions League next season as well.
Jack Grealish will also slot in better in his second season at the Etihad and if all the other players can maintain the same level of intensity that they have shown this season then Man City will all be scoring goals for fun.
