Steve McManaman on Barcelona's Need for a Striker
Steve McManaman can see why the Erling Haaland-to-Spain story refuses to die. He just isn’t convinced Barcelona are the ones who can make it happen – or that they even need to.
Speaking to GOAL on behalf of ESPN on Disney+, with Atletico Madrid’s trip to Sevilla on the schedule this Saturday, the former Manchester City winger was asked the inevitable question: is Haaland the long-term answer for Barca?
“Maybe,” he replied. “Everybody's got this mythical thing that Erling wants to play in Spain, don't they.”
The idea is seductive: Haaland thundering around La Liga in Barcelona colours. The reality, McManaman pointed out, is a little harsher.
“I mean whether Barcelona could even afford Erling is another question, so maybe they are playing the long game, I have no idea,” he said. “Erling seems very, very happy at City – signed a huge long-term contract last year, didn't he.”
So if Haaland is locked in at City and Barcelona’s finances remain tight, where does that leave their attack?
McManaman still sees a gap.
“I thought they were quite short up front last year and they went and won the league quite comfortably,” he said. “Robert's gone, Ferran's gone, who is their centre-forward this year?”
He ran through the options and saw pace, flair and goals – but not a classic penalty-box bully.
“I think [Karim] Adeyemi’s not really an out-and-out number nine, he's more of a typical speedster isn't he, you've got Raphinha, you've got [Anthony] Gordon, you've got Lamine [Yamal].”
It’s a familiar pattern to him. Barcelona look light in key areas, then rip teams apart anyway.
“Whenever I looked at Barcelona last year they did the same, the year before they did the same,” McManaman said. “I looked at various areas and thought they look short there, they look short there, and then they go and obliterate everybody.”
One player summed that up for him: Eric Garcia.
“I look at Eric Garcia, he played about four or five positions last year and I'm thinking to myself ‘can he play there, can he play there,’ and actually he can, he can play bloody everywhere!”
That adaptability keeps proving him wrong, but it hasn’t changed his core concern.
“So they continue to surprise me, but I'm the same, I still think they need a positional number nine,” he insisted. “Whether they have one in La Masia, coming up as a youngster who can do a job for you for maybe 10-15 games is another thing.”
While Barcelona juggle solutions, Real Madrid have already added another forward option of their own.
“Madrid have brought [Carlos] Espi, scored a few goals already, again a different type of player,” McManaman noted.
He still expects Barcelona’s current attackers to carry a serious scoring load without a superstar No.9.
“But you know Lamine will get 20 if he stays fit, Raphinha will get another 25 if he stays fit, and Adeyemi I bet he'll get 20, and Gordon will, if he plays enough games, get 20 goals,” he said.
That, in his eyes, is the key difference between the two giants right now.
“They tend to spread it around a little bit more evenly than Real Madrid.”
So the Haaland dream lingers in the background, but Barcelona’s reality is clear: goals by committee, a shape-shifting squad, and a missing traditional centre-forward that might yet define how far they can go.
