Manchester City striker Erling Haaland did not mince his words after the Blues saw their Premier League title hopes ended
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland
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For the last few weeks, Erling Haaland has taken on the role of Declan Rice. Just as the Arsenal star made a point of telling his teammates that the title race wasn't over when they lost at the Etihad, so Manchester City's No.9 has been spreading that message where he can.
Haaland made a point of it after the 3-3 draw with Everton that ultimately left City needing to go to Bournemouth needing a win just to stay in the title race, and he could be seen on the pitch at the Vitality trying to gee the players up as they trailed. If your eyes strayed from the Norwegian, you could see Pep Guardiola doing exactly the same on the touchline.
This season has been a learning curve for Haaland, not as a goalscorer - he tucked home his 38th goal of the campaign in injury time on Tuesday night - but as a leader. The decision to sign a lengthy new contract in January 2025 saw Guardiola bump the striker up to the captaincy group and Haaland has been working out how best to lead.
After weeks of offering carrots to his teammates supporting their efforts in games, after Bournemouth came the stick. For anyone still at the club next season, more is expected.
"Everything is relative. It was better than last season," the Norweigan told club media. "I felt we could have still pushed a little more in the league but again it’s over now so it’s easy to say that now. We won two trophies, that is important but we wanted the Premier as well.
"In the end, every game in the Premier League is difficult. We tried. It wasn't enough. The whole club should use this as motivation now. We should be angry, we should feel a fire inside our belly because it's not good enough.
"It's gone two years now, it feels like forever. We're going to do everything we can, everyone that will be here next season, to win the league."
City will be losing their captain this summer when Bernardo Silva departs and their chief motivator as well in Guardiola, so there needs to be a stepping up across the squad. Going close to winning the league this year does not guarantee that the Blues will be any nearer next time so if Haaland's message seems brutal it does need to be heard loudly and clearly at the Etihad.
That also applies to Haaland, who has admitted over the course of the campaign that his level has not always been up to scratch. But as City look to go one better, they need to keep this mentality to push each other to be better.