Erling Haaland, Man City, Pep Guardiola in many ways a perfect match. Now it's up to them

It wasn't quite LeBron James and «The Decision.» After all, Erling Braut Haaland wasn't a free agent, it wasn't televised, there was no «hometown betrayal» narrative and there were plenty of whispers that an announcement was imminent as various suitors had dropped out of the race. But it's not far off.

Haaland didn't say — or at least had not yet said so as of Tuesday night — that «I'm going to take my talents to the Etihad and join Manchester City.… I feel like it's going to give me the best opportunity to win and to win for multiple years.» But he and his entourage were probably thinking it.

This is a 21-year-old man-child and alongside Kylian Mbappe, he's one of the two hottest properties in the global game. Confirmation came on Tuesday that he was joining forces with Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, one of the very best (and best-resourced) clubs over the past few seasons, and the hot favourites to win their fourth Premier League title in five years.

What unites player and club, other than the fact they're close to the gold standard in what they do, is planning.

— Man City agree deal to sign Dortmund's Haaland — The numbers that made Haaland the most-wanted striker — Dortmund complete signing of Adeyemi, replacement for Haaland

After playing second fiddle to crosstown rivals Manchester United for most of their history, and winning two Premier League titles in the early years under Emirati ownership more with a scattered, big spending approach, they committed themselves to a long-term project and zeroed in on Guardiola, the architect of two Champions League crowns when he was at Barcelona and the most coveted coach in the game at the time, as the coach to take them further.

Guardiola was at Bayern at the time, but