Why You Don't Want Another Erling Haaland
My latest column for ESPN is up. Inspired by a recent conversation, I tried to identify European soccer’s “triple threats”:
The other day, I spoke to someone who helped build a team that won the Champions League and multiple domestic trophies. He told me that in recruiting attackers, they tried to avoid players like Haaland. Not Haaland in particular -- he's so good that you just sign him and figure everything else out after the fact -- but rather elite-yet-one-dimensional players who require sacrifices across the rest of the team to cover up their deficiencies.
Instead, this club official and his team preferred what he called "triple threats." "If you can pass, shoot and dribble, you're a triple threat," he said.
I was also on ESPN FC Live again today, talking about the five best players in the world and tomorrow’s Champions League matches: