‘F*ck knows!’ - Erling Haaland poses impossible question with no answer as former Man City defender reveals how he would try and stop Ronaldo-esque striker

Arsenal centre-half Gabriel Magalhaes is considered to have come as close as anybody to finding a solution to the Haaland poser - having tangled with a fierce rival across several Premier League fixtures - but even he has been left eating “humble” pie at times.

Haaland has plundered 112 goals in the English top-flight, while finding the target on 162 occasions in total for City through 198 appearances. He has three Golden Boots to his name and formed part of a historic Treble-winning triumph in 2022-23.

The Citizens have tied their fearsome No.9 to a stunning 10-year contract, which is due to run until 2034, meaning that he will likely terrorise Premier League opponents for many seasons yet. Interest from the likes of Real Madrid continues to be shunned for now.

Haaland will want to land more major honours in Manchester, while also forcing his way back into contention for Ballon d’Or recognition. Remarkable individual standards have been set, with the challenge now being to maintain those.

With there no sign of the powerful 26-year-old slowing down - on the back of making his World Cup bow with Norway - how do you set about reining him in? Does Haaland have any weaknesses?

When those questions were put to Hendry, the ex-City centre-half - speaking exclusively to GOAL in association with Bet442 - said: “I'll answer that, f*ck knows!

“You know how the Arsenal centre defenders... Gabriel does it. He's a class act Gabriel. If anything, I would just try and rumble him up. I’ve spoken before about 98 and Ronaldo, and would I use some sort of comparison to that? I didn't actually try and rumble him up, but I wanted to go out and play to the best of my ability and test myself. And it wouldn't be any different against the likes of Haaland.

“I'm not saying he's a modern-day Ronaldo, R9, I'm not saying that at all, but in a similar fashion, you've got to think about what centre-backs think when playing against these sort of guys.

“I mean, Haaland running full pelt into you, you'd think, ‘it's a juggernaut coming’. And it wasn't unlike when I did play in 98 against Ronaldo. But Haaland, he's out there on his own at the minute. He's a one-off.

“You have [Luis] Suarez, [Sergio] Aguero, Romario, that type. There's a few of them from down the years. I don't really think there is another Haaland that would put the frighteners on defenders as he does.

“But, I would try and wind him up. But that's old-school. I don't know if some of the players that play against Haaland are as fit and as physical. And you would like to think that they would go in on that, try and take him on head-on with his strengths, but then probably end up trying to wind him up and see if you can get a reaction that way.”

Haaland has returned to training at City ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. He is now working under a new manager, after seeing Enzo Maresca succeed Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium, and will be eager to open a new era for the Blues in style.

He could be involved in a Community Shield clash with Arsenal in Cardiff on Sunday, prior to the Citizens opening another bid for Premier League title glory at home to Bournemouth on August 23.