Erling Haaland’s time at Manchester City will age like fine wine.
Perhaps due to the fact that Haaland’s magnificence has become the norm for him, it is easy for his critics to forget how remarkable he has been in a City shirt.
However, like any player that joins a Premier League club from elsewhere, questions marks are placed on whether they will be able to replicate their brilliance in arguably the best division in the world.
Such questions were placed when the £375,000-a-week man produced a forgettable debut for the Sky Blues in their 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the FA Community Shield in 2022.
Haaland missed a few chances during the game and had a rare day to forget in front of goal.
Erling Haaland reminisces on his Man City debut against Liverpool in the Community Shield
One of them emerged in the second-half when an open goal was gaping wide and the Norwegian skied his attempt to simply tap the ball into the back of the net.
Even the best of the best goalscorers have missed such chances and proceed to look stunned.
But the 24-year-old smirked and walked away, seeming unbothered by his outrageous miss with the world watching.
As they say, the rest is history and the Leeds-born phenom’s story at the Etihad Stadium seems far from over.
Haaland took to his Instagram story to react to a post that reminisced on the contest, writing: “Great memories”, followed by a laughing emoji.
Erling Haaland made a mockery of his critics
Haaland has every reason to laugh after reminiscing about the game, having had a bizarrely poor game for his incredible standards and also how he managed to silence all his doubters.
When it comes to players as high-profile as the former Borussia Dortmund goalscorers, critics flock to microanalysing their every underwhelming display.
However, it is futile to ever well and truly doubt a player like Haaland’s greatness, as displayed by how he managed to lead Manchester City to winning the treble in his debut season.
The two-time Premier League winner must be accustomed to being questioned by several fans and critics at this point but a player with his quality and drive is likely unaffected by the undeserved stick he gets.