admin Erling Haaland may be denied a Ballon D’Or win but he has still helped to push Manchester City further into the spotlight.
George Michael later joked about the “little ego” he had to keep crushing while recording the charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas.
The singer performed on the record and ensured it reached No. 1 that year, but in doing so, he killed his own ambition of achieving four No. 1s that year and guaranteed said that its own certified song – Last Christmas – did not perform well. The song is still highly rated and sells well, but the lack of recognition on the charts still bothers a section of music superstars.
Erling Haaland may soon feel that feeling. The Manchester City striker broke many records as one of the best teams in football history achieved one of the rarest feats. However, one of the game’s greatest players winning the club’s ultimate award may not be enough to surpass the game’s greatest player winning the ultimate award with his county ta.
Does Lionel Messi deserve to win the Golden Ball when his form last year is compared to Haaland? Probably not, but the story is still hard to argue with and Messi has returned to wow fans after an unforgettable time at Paris Saint-Germain.
Haaland could be forgiven for wondering what he would need to do to win the Ballon D’Or if it eludes him after the season he has had, although he has broken new ground for Man City became a serious candidate in terms of price. This comes after immediate recognition by the Premier League and PFA for his debut campaign in English football.
It’s not just Norwegians who notice; he was one of seven treble winners in a 30-strong shortlist – more than any other club – while Ederson was nominated for the goalkeeper award. To add to Haaland’s individual award at the PFA Awards, City have five players in their team of the year – again, more than anyone else.
This completes a turning point for the club which has belatedly seen its individuals congratulated as well as the collective (and manager) for what they have achieved.Bernardo Silva – also on the Golden Ball shortlist – expressed disappointment with this situation in 2020, and repeated it until the beginning of last season.
“I’m not complaining here, but I feel like other clubs get a lot more credit than City for doing less,” he told ESPN. “For example, when I was at Benfica — a huge club in Portugal with more fans, more everything — you do something nice, and they make it look like it’s great. Here at City, you do something great and they make it look like it’s just good.
“Playing in the Premier League and winning four titles in five years and checking the Premier League team of the year every year and knowing that we’re never the team that has the most players. We don’t have the best manager, we don’t have the best players, but we still win four Premier Leagues in five years? It just doesn’t make sense. It probably shows that City players don’t get as much credit as they should.”
City secured a coup in the summer transfer window by not just keeping Silva again but getting him to extend his contract. The player has been open to a new challenge for at least three years, but a lack of suitable offers from other clubs has meant he has stayed.
Despite being open to leaving, Silva has never downed tools at City and is fully committed again to hunting down more trophies. When he considers his happiness at the Etihad, there is no longer that ‘little b****** ego thing’ either to be bothered by.
