AT the time of writing, just 15.7% of Dream Team gaffers will start the new season without Erling Haaland (£8.5m) in their ranks.
It would be generous to describe this minority as brave given the mountain of points Manchester City’s No9 assembled last season but what if they’re onto something?
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Betting against the Norwegian goal machine feels foolish but he’s by far the most-expensive player in the game.
Omitting Haaland frees up a lot of budget and opens up intriguing new possibilities.
Playing devil’s advocate, we attempted to create the strongest possible team that doesn’t feature the Etihad’s resident cyborg.
Without Haaland, there’s no need to spend much time browsing Dream Team’s bargain aisle at all.
Bruno Guimaraes (£3m) is the cheapest player selected here and the Brazilian is a quality midfielder for a team who will play in the Champions League this season.
World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez (£3.5m) takes his place between the sticks, a choice that will hopefully pay dividends if Aston Villa progress to the Europa Conference League group stages where they should enjoy the luxury of some favourable match-ups.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£6m), Manuel Akanji (£4.5m), William Saliba (£3.5m) has to be considered a strong back three that covers most bases.
The former’s creativity puts most playmakers to shame while the latter pair should be across most clean sheets achieved by the two standout teams of 2022/23.
The aforementioned Guimaraes is the only member of the midfield quintet who wouldn’t have registered 200+ points last season had the new scoring system been implemented – and he would have only been a fraction short on 199.
Free from the financial constraints that come with Haaland’s selection, it’s possible to select genuine quality across the board.
And look at that strike partnership!
The main concern if you overlook Haaland is that you’ll lack firepower up front but we’ve managed to pair Harry Kane (£7m) with Mohamed Salah (£7m) – the tried-and-tested duo scored 62 goals between them last season.
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Obviously this strategy is dependent on the England captain staying at Tottenham, which isn’t a given by any means, but as things stand our XI looks great on paper.
All that being said, betting against Haaland is clearly a strategy that comes with immense risk.
If he opens his account with a hat-trick against Burnley on Friday night – a realistic scenario – then gaffers without him will feel very silly indeed.
Good luck to all those willing to take the risk!
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
