Paul Merson suggests Erling Haaland is overrated and needs balls ‘on a sixpence’ to prosper

Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has claimed Erling Haaland requires the service of his Manchester City teammates in order to score goals.

Haaland joined Manchester City this summer and has set the Premier League alight. He has scored 15 goals in 10 games, and is the overwhelming favourite to win the Golden Boot award having score six more goals than closest challenger Harry Kane.

Haaland has set record after record. Not only is he the fastest player to three hat-tricks, but also the first person to score back-to-back-to-back home hat-tricks (Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Man Utd). Haaland also boasts three assists, showing he is more than just a goalscorer.

Despite his astonishing start to life in the Premier League, Arsenal legend Merson doesn’t believe the Norwegian striker would enjoy the same success lower down the English football pyramid.

In his Sky Sports column, Merson made the bold claim that Haaland needs service to prosper or he would struggle to get on the scoresheet.

“Manchester City will want to win the Champions League and if they are playing Brighton or whoever at 3pm on the Saturday, and they have Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or PSG on the Tuesday in the semi-final, they will care about Europe,” he told Sky Sports.

“They have won the Premier League four out of the last five seasons! With the World Cup making the season stopping and starting, Haaland will not be playing for six weeks! He needs the service.

“Everyone is going on about how great and super he is and how the movement is great and how powerful he is, but if he’s not getting the ball on a sixpence, it doesn’t matter how good your movement is, he’s not getting the ball. He would not score 60 goals in League Two, and I was a manager there with Walsall.”