Pep Guardiola responds to Jamie Carragher’s ‘wrong club’ comment on Erling Haaland and Man City

Pep Guardiola has said he ‘understands’ Jamie Carragher’s claim that Erling Haaland may have joined the ‘wrong club’ but said he is delighted to have the striker at Manchester City.

The Norwegian has scored a remarkable 32 goals in 30 games so far this season and netted once again on Wednesday in the 3-1 win over Arsenal that saw the Blues go top of the table. Should Haaland net again on Saturday when the Premier League champions travel to Nottingham Forest, he will equal the all-time record goals for a City player in a single season - which stands at 33 from Sergio Aguero in 2016/17.

It makes Carragher’s comments two weeks ago even more remarkable, with the former Liverpool defender saying the lack of transitional play under Guardiola doesn’t suit Haaland.

“He’s come from a league and Borussia Dortmund where it’s a counter-attacking league and it’s end to end and you see that blistering pace. You don’t see it [at City]. He may have actually picked the wrong club to actually get the best out of him. We’re not seeing everything of Haaland and Manchester City now,” said Carragher, after City lost 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur.

Guardiola was asked on Friday whether he understood the pundit’s opinion and replied: “Yeah, absolutely. I understand it. What can I say? I am open to all opinions.

“We have his argument but it is important that he feels so happy here. His commitment – not because he scored 26 goals – is incredibly well respected. It was a surprise for us, a really big surprise.

“We know his stats, his numbers when he played in Dortmund. We are, all of us, really surprised. How we see him as a boy, because he is a boy and that makes us so proud of him. We want to help him.

“All opinions are more than welcome and Jamie Carragher says that, he will have his reasons. We are delighted to have him and we are delighted he chose us because at the end he had all the world in his hands to choose where he was going to play, to stay in Dortmund or go to Madrid or Barcelona or other teams in England but he chose us and that is why we are more than happy.”