Pep Guardiola heaps praise on Erling Haaland and outlines plan to halt the ‘exceptional’ striker

Pep Guardiola has hailed the abilities of Erling Haaland but but defended Manchester City’s reluctance to spend over £100million on any player.

The Norwegian striker is one of the hottest properties in world football, and the Cityzens are reported to be among the clubs interested in his services.

Reports recently claims Dortmund could demand a fee of about €180 million for their striker, who has scored 33 goals for the club in all competitions this season, including 10 in six Champions League appearances.

Guardiola has praise the talented Dortmund star ahead of their Champions League meeting on Tuesday, and how he plan to halt ‘exceptional’ Striker.

“The only thing I can say is that, with his age, he is an exceptional striker. The numbers speak for themselves and he’s a fantastic player – that’s all,” Guardiola said.

“To score that number of goals at his age is not easy to find. When that happens it’s because he can score with the right, the left, the counter-attacks, in the box.”

“He’s a fantastic striker, everyone knows it. A blind guy would realise he’s a good striker. It’s not necessary to be a manager to realise it.”

“The striker who scores goals has more chances to score when they are in our box, when they have as much minutes as far away they have less chances. It is a question of mathematics. I am not a mathematician. But Jamie Vardy, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah – all the strikers in the world – they want to be there as much as possible so the best way is to avoid them being there.”

Despite City’s reluctance to spend over £100million on any player, Guardiola said the club could break their transfer record and spend over £100 million as speculation over a move for Haaland grows.

“The fact we have not spent, for one player, a lot of money, gives you advantage. Football is a team game, everyone makes his contribution. It’s not just one player, it’s for absolutely everyone,” He said.

“So far the club has decided not to spend close to £100million for a player, or more than £100million on a player. Maybe in the future it is going to happen if they decide it is necessary to improve the team for the next five, 10 years, for many reasons, but so far the club, the organisation, the CEO, the sporting director decided not to do it and that’s why they didn’t do it.”