United fans - Would you rather City bought Erling Haaland or Lionel Messi this summer?

rron10

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Messi easily.
Although I hope they sign Fellaini.
 

Pep's Suit

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Messi runs little now. When he was younger, he had amazing workrate off-the-ball
I don't think he needs to run as a maniac, just needs to be effective when he does. Also he's not "that" lazy, just people like to overreact:


Pressures in 20/21 + (success rate)

Messi : 159 (35.2%)
Haaland : 151 (29.8%)
Benzema : 140 (17.1%)
Lukaku : 139 (31.7%)
Ronaldo : 105 (25.7%)
Suarez : 89 (23.6%)

[FBREF]
 

manc exile

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I would prefer them to buy neither, but if it has to be one then Messi because he is getting to the end of his career
 

teteus

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Am I the only one who thinks Pep and Haaland don’t fit together? Pep loves his robotic type players were as Haaland is more explosive and I believe that aspect of his game would get curb which makes him so exciting. Jesus is a good example while not bad I feel his true potential is kinda held back due to this.
Nah, Gabriel Jesus just doesn't have it in him to be a clinical and deadly striker who loves scoring goals. He's a worse version of Sterling and prime Firmino.

That said, I don't know if Pep and Haaland fit together either. But I wouldn't doubt Pep being able to make it work, I think he's a more flexible coach now than in his Barcelona days. He even let go of Eto'o, the team's top striker in the 2008/2009 season, because Eto'o supposedly wasn't fully compromised with Guardiola's playing philosophy.
 

footballistic orgasm

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Nah, Gabriel Jesus just doesn't have it in him to be a clinical and deadly striker who loves scoring goals. He's a worse version of Sterling and prime Firmino.

That said, I don't know if Pep and Haaland fit together either. But I wouldn't doubt Pep being able to make it work, I think he's a more flexible coach now than in his Barcelona days. He even let go of Eto'o, the team's top striker in the 2008/2009 season, because Eto'o supposedly wasn't fully compromised with Guardiola's playing philosophy.
He's actually better than both with his all round play and also at goal scoring though he doesn't seem like a natural striker either.
Firmino is actually the worst goal scorer of the 3 IMO.
 

NoLogo

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I can't remember why I joined this war.
The only sensible reason here to say Messi is because Haaland could dominate the league's goal scoring for the next 10 years while Messi realistically will only have 2-4 more years at the highest level left.
 

Ole'sattheWheel

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If city sign Haaland it's going to be disgusting. Look how unstoppable they are right now with Jesus upfront and Gundogan as their main goalscorer.

Going to be bleak let me tell you
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Can we not have threads like this please?

May as well ask which genocide I want to see next.
It’s not that deep bro chill.

I don’t care what they do. I only care what we do. I don’t want them to get weaker, I want us to get stronger & get to that level. Chelsea becoming as good as they did in the mid-2000s was a good thing for us as it meant we were forced to get to that level, and eventually surpass it. That won us a champions league.
 

AjaxCunian

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Not that I really care, but Haaland. I think Haaland is phenomenal, but Messi would give the club an even bigger boost despite his older age. Commercially, they'd boost themselves even more and that would have a long-lasting effect.

Also, City play amazing football and Haaland is much better than Jesus, but Haaland is a player than can be kept quiet. It is interesting to see how he'd fare when he has far less space to run into.. Messi can only be kept quiet during knockout stages in the CL it seems. They'd be guaranteed of the league and the favourite for the CL as well.
 

FattyFooty

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What's the point of this?

To make everyone say Messi is on the decline?

Why couldn't you put it with Kane or Mbappe instead?
 

Loopy

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Messi - he’s past his best, I can’t see him living out his retirement years in Gorton though!

Ill take Haaland, he’s still developing.
 

Norman Brownbutter

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Messi, because bringing him in will upset that apple cart. City are playing brilliant stuff. Messi is a huge ego, and will demand to start. But his play style doesnt suit what city do. Messi is a walk around type that springs into magnificent action on occasion. At city, everyone works 100% of the time. Halland would be spoiled for service at City, and would be the next Aguero with ease. Messi has a couple of years left and might score goals, but he wont find it as easy int he PL as he doesn in LaLiga.
 

Giggsy13

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It’s not that deep bro chill.

I don’t care what they do. I only care what we do. I don’t want them to get weaker, I want us to get stronger & get to that level. Chelsea becoming as good as they did in the mid-2000s was a good thing for us as it meant we were forced to get to that level, and eventually surpass it. That won us a champions league.
We had the greatest manager we’ll ever see in our lifetime help us beat that threat. Different time and era.
 

croadyman

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We had the greatest manager we’ll ever see in our lifetime help us beat that threat. Different time and era.
Yeah gotta be realistic only significant investment would get us near them in the next few years and the signs aren't good
 

macheda14

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Yeah gotta be realistic only significant investment would get us near them in the next few years and the signs aren't good
A fantastic manager definitely could. We have more resources than Liverpool and they got there. Yes they paid huge fees for two players, but that was also reinvestment from their player sales.
 

mark clatternburg

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If they sign this Haaland, I hope he spends as much time in Soyuncus pocket as he did in their recent confrontation.
 

Trequarista10

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Brain says Haaland would be the better signing, heart says I wouldn't want to see the greatest player of all time in a City shirt.