Alexander Sorloth believes Erling Haaland would face Zlatan Ibrahimovic-style problem if joining Real Madrid or Barcelona

In recent years, Erling Haaland has been linked with the big two in La Liga, and that has continued despite joining Manchester City in the summer of 2022. The 23-year-old is regarded as one of the best strikers in world football, and there’s no doubt that he would improve either Real Madrid or Barcelona.

If Haaland were to swap Manchester for Spain in the coming years, which is something that Man City would be very keen to avoid, international teammate Alexander Sorloth told Relevo that he believes that Haaland would have little problem in adapting to Spanish football, although he would need help from teammates.

“I don’t think there’s that much difference between some leagues and others today. I think that’s a matter for the media, believe me I’ve been to England, Germany, Spain… And it’s really not as different as people say. So of course Haaland would adapt to Spain.

“When you’re a great player like Haaland, you have to adapt to the team, but the team has to adapt to you. If you remember (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic, he came to Spain, he tried to adapt to Barcelona, but Barcelona had to adapt to him in many aspects. With Haaland, it would be like this too. Let’s say that he comes here to a team… he would have to adapt, yes, but the team he went to would have to adapt to him because his qualities mean that a team has to adapt to him.”

There’s certainly merit to Sorloth’s remarks, as Ibrahimovic arrived at Barcelona in 2009 as one of the best strikers in the world, but he struggled to adapt to the style of play – and a part of that would have been Pep Guardiola not drastically changing to suit the Swede. For now at least, Haaland doesn’t need to worry about this, as he looks set to stay at Man City for a while yet.