Pep Guardiola is already planning for Erling Haaland transfer at Manchester City

Pep Guardiola has challenged conventional football wisdom this season. Despite calls from all angles for Manchester City to sign a new striker, he pushed on without signing an alternative to Harry Kane last summer.

Since then, City have accumulated more points in England than any other team, and they have lost just six times from a possible 41 matches, scoring a total of 107 goals in all competitions. Guardiola's strikerless system has proved to be incredibly effective at securing positive results, and it illustrates a way of playing that places less of an emphasis on a fixed focal point at the business end of the field.

However, despite their form, City have continued their search for a striker, and Erling Haaland is at the top of their shortlist. The Etihad club are rumoured to be competing with Real Madrid (and others) for his signature.

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The Norwegian striker is undeniably elite, and he's still just 21, which suggests that goals are almost guaranteed for the next decade and beyond for the club who manages to sign him.

The overwhelming question relates to how Guardiola would adjust to accommodate a new striker. Signing a dominant player such as Haaland would almost force him to make modifications to his system. Thankfully for City, Guardiola appreciates the varying needs of different strikers.

Speaking in the past, he said: "The tactic is for the qualities of the players. If you have strikers like Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller, you have to make crosses because they are so strong in the box."

He continued: "For Sergio Aguero, we have to find other solutions. The way we finish the attack depends on