Erling Haaland, the Manchester City star, considered Lionel Messi to be the greatest player in the history of football, wishing he would retire so that he could succeed in achieving individual awards.
Messi snatched from the Norwegian star the Ballon d’Or and The Best awards for the past year, despite Haaland’s success in achieving the historic treble while scoring a large number of goals.
At the press conference for the Manchester City-Copenhagen match, Haaland was asked about losing trophies to Messi, and he replied, “Messi has won the World Cup and trophies. For me, he is the best player in history.”
He also added, “Maybe we need Messi to retire and then another player can be seen as the best in the world.”
As for his future, Haaland answered somewhat ambiguously, saying, “I am happy here at Manchester City, but you never know what the future holds.”
He concluded, “I am now focusing mainly on football. We have a lot of matches and I should focus on that, but as I said, I am happy.”
Haaland’s contract with City extends until the summer of 2027, but according to the media, the 22-year-old could leave in the summer of 2025 with a huge penalty clause worth more than 150 million euros.
