Haaland v Nunez is reductive nonsense when Manchester City and Liverpool are this good

Haaland at Manchester City v Nunez at Liverpool might be all we hear for the next ten years, but these two players have been signed for their ability, rather than status.

It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but then again, what I was expecting was for a spaceship to land in the centre circle at The Etihad Stadium and, amid plumes of white smoke and the music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Ivan Drago to slowly roll forward, smiling serenely and waving in a regal manner as a thousand camera flashes exploded at once. Who knows? Perhaps they’ll do this on July 1, when the European transfer window dictates he can complete the paperwork and actually become a Manchester City player.

Instead, what we got was an announcement for the social media age, and a play of the ‘family’ angle. Photos of little Erling in a City shirt when his old man played for them in the early 2000s from the player and a recreated video of him sitting on a chair in full kit, alongside one of him as a teenager from the club. It was a low-key welcome for a new player with such a reputation, because while meeting his contractual release clause means that Haaland won’t be the most expensive transfer of the summer, he is the first to feel like a ‘Hollywood’ signing. The best young centre-forward in the world, a player who’s scored three goals in every four games throughout his career, is joining the champions.

And Liverpool have followed suit, spending €75m (£64m), rising to a potential €100m with add-ons, to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica, another striker on a hot streak, having scored 26 goals in 28 games in the Primeira Liga last season to become the top scorer in the division despite only playing three-quarters of Benfica’s league matches. Nunez isn’t quite at the same level of celebrity as Haaland, but this is offset in the banter stakes by Liverpool having spent more money on Nunez than City spent on Haaland. The media is already hyping up this ‘rivalry’. What we may be witnessing right now is the introduction to the soundtrack of the Premier League over the next ten years.

But for all the hype that has already started to explode, there is also something counter-intuitive about these two clubs both going for ‘Hollywood’ signings. If anything, Manchester City and Liverpool have become the antithesis to the cult of celebrity in football. There are no ‘star’ players at either club. What both have is an exceptional group of athletes who…