Kyle Walker: Picking between Harry Kane and Erling Haaland is very difficult but I have my answer

PICKING a fantasy football team for my life and having to choose between Harry Kane and Erling Haaland at centre-forward is very difficult.

I’ve thought a lot about it and I’m going to go for Harry because of the variety of things he can do. But it’s very, very close.

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People often ask me to compare Kane to Haaland or Haaland to Sergio Aguero.

I even put Jermain Defoe in this bracket because Defoe in front of goal was the sharpest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

All have different attributes. Aguero could pick the ball up and run from the centre spot and take it to goal and go and score.

Erling probably has to get people involved to then create something from nothing.

Put Harry in front of goal and he’s clinical.

His positioning and his finishing and how he technically hits the ball is nothing like I’ve ever seen.

Was Erling ever going to be Aguero with his technical ability?

Probably not. He’s too big and too powerful to be dribbling like that. But he’s mastered his skill just like Harry has done.

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And he uses his physical attributes to the best of his ability and that’s why he reaps the goals.

I was lucky enough in training to be operating in small areas with him and Erling likes to operate in big areas.

It was very rare that we’d do eleven v eleven on a full-size pitch. and that’s where Erling comes alive.

You need to make sure you have one player tight to him and one covering and don’t give him a sniff

It’s about being intelligent. The worst games that I’ve seen for Erling are when he comes up against players who have used the head more than the physicality.

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I remember a game against Wolves, who were not the greatest team in the Premier League, but they marked him so well.

Craig Dawson was so tied to him and they were two-on-one on him.

They weren’t really bothered about the ball.

We put the ball wide and put the ball in the box but there were two around him, making it so difficult that he couldn’t create the space, and they played him out of the game.

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Erling takes so few touches but scores goals. It can be a detriment to him and sometimes his team needs that extra man along the top line.

But you only have to watch the Brazil game to see how devastating he is.

That second goal was a touch out of his feet and a shot with so much power.

You’ve got a great goalkeeper like Alisson and a defender like Gabriel and his power just beats him.

I’ve always been a big believer that you respect players but you don’t worry about players.

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Take Kylian Mbappe. When we played France in the quarter-final in Qatar, he was the big thing and it was about Walker against Mbappe

I respected him because he’s a great player but I wasn’t going to roll out a red carpet for him.

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I’m playing for my country just as much as he’s playing for his country.

Mark Guehi, who’s a teammate, or John Stones, who’s an ex-teammate, will respect him and appreciate what he’s got.

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But, as I say, you don’t roll the red carpet out for him.

Ok, if you do need to get physical, get physical. If you need to give him a bit of banter here and there to put him off his game you do it.

Do whatever you need to do for England to get over the line. It’s dog-eat dog.

I think back to when I first came across Erling when we played against Dortmund in the Champions League for Man City.

We’d heard about this young man breaking onto the scene and scoring goals left, right and centre.

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No disrespect to the German League but you think: “Okay, well the Champions League is where we’re gonna see what he’s all about.” and we found out even though we won.

There was actually an argument between Ilkay Gundogan and Jude Bellingham in the game and Erling, who was Jude’s Dortmund teammate, had to separate them.

Man City got him for a bargain and he’s been worth his weight in gold 100 per cent.

He’s very humble, very down-to-earth. He knows what he’s there to do.

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He has a vision and a dream to achieve personally and he’s been a great teammate and a good friend.

He let the football do the talking. Now he’s coming more out of himself and probably more into the public domain with his cheeky posts and his Snapchat.

But he doesn’t let that outside noise affect his football.

He likes leading the pranks which is easy when you’re doing well and scoring goals.

But Erling has the maturity to look after himself, whether that’s recovery, ice baths, or eating the right foods doing everything he can to maximise his performance.

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He loves his food but when 6ft 5 with the physique he has, he probably burns it in his sleep.

I really do think Norway are a good team. Against Mexico, it was more about battling with the atmosphere and the altitude.

Now we’re talking about Norway and individuals. They’ve got good Premier League players. and they’re a solid nation

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Martin Odegaard has played for Real Madrid, he’s won the Premier League at Arsenal.

Going into the World Cup this season has not seen the Odegaard that we’ve known of the previous season.

But he’s still a quality player and a leader on that pitch.

They lean on him and Erling. However, Sander Berge is very underrated too. He gets around and is very physical.

They’ve got good players in good areas and the keeper, Orjan Nyland, has done well pulling off wonderful saves against Brazil, including saving a penalty from Bruno.

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It’s going to be tough but if England put a performance in like they did against Mexico they’ll win.

It’s not going to be as easy as we think though.

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