Former Manchester City centre-back Joleon Lescott said that Erling Haaland needs to match the consistency levels of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi before he can be considered as one of the greats.
Haaland has made a sensational start at City, scoring 20 goals in 14 matches in all competitions for the Premier League champions since joining them from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
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Lescott, who won Premier League titles with City in 2011-12 and 2013-14, was in Cape Town as part of the defending champions’ Trophy Tour and said the Norway international is at the same calibre of Messi and Ronaldo.
“The toughest striker I came up against was Louis Saha and I played against Messi and Ronaldo. He’s [Haaland] in that category,” Lescott told ESPN in an exclusive interview.
“He’s going to be a successful player throughout his career, but to say he’s going to be the greatest ever, I think it’s a little bit early and I don’t think he would [want] that yet. I think if he continues to do what he’s doing, he will definitely be in that conversation.”
Despite having lined up against some illustrious strikers, Lescott has regularly singled Saha out as a tough opponent with the former Manchester United striker’s well-rounded game.
Meanwhile, Lescott has previously told Manchester City’s website of legendary rival centre-back duo Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, despite acknowledging how well they complimented each other, that “if one of them was out then it wasn’t the same.”
In his interview with ESPN, Lescott omitted Vidic from his all-time top five Premier League centre-backs list although Ferdinand made the cut.
Not indicating any particular order among his top five, Lescott said: “Of all time? Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Vincent Kompany,” before pausing and adding: “I’ll say Sol Campbell and Jaap Stam.”
Lescott himself was part of a rock-solid City defence which won the 2012 league title with only 29 goals conceded under Roberto Mancini. However, the existing Italy boss has been accused by the likes of Wayne Bridge, Shay Given and Samir Nasri of being overly hostile.
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While Lescott did not deny that City struggled at times with Mancini’s approach, he nevertheless defended his former boss’ techniques.
“At times, it was good [and] at times, it was bad. I think that’s the case with every coach and every manager. There are going to be players that enjoy [you] and that you motivate, and there are going to be players that [you don’t].
“We just had to find a way to be together as a group and we did that, like you said. We were able to find a camaraderie that was based on friendship and still is now. Listen – we was all successful as a group – as a management and as a group of players.
“As much as people look back and say it was this and it was that, it was successful at the end of the day.”
Lescott also defended former teammate Mario Balotelli, who was brought to the club by Mancini but struggled to fulfil his potential amid constant rumours of troublesome behaviour, including reportedly accidentally setting his house alight with fireworks.
“No, Mario was fine,” Lescott said when asked if Balotelli was truly the person he had been made out to be by the press.
“You can put things into perspective — Mario was 19, 20 or 21 at the time, moving countries with a lot of eyes on him. He was the first high profile personality — not player, but personality — in the league in that kind of way. There were probably things he would look back on and say: ‘Should [I] have done that?,’ but overall, I think he was just a young man finding his way in a new country with a lot of pressure and a lot of eyes on him.”