Erling Haaland scored a brace as Manchester City thrashed FC Copenhagen 5-0, taking his tally to 19 goals for the season. The 22-year-old has made only 12 appearances for City since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund and was hailed by former striker Paul Dickov for his bright start to life at the Etihad Stadium.
Haaland has scored 14 goals from eight Premier League games, twice as many as the second-highest scorer. No player in Europe’s top-five leagues has more goals than the Norwegian international and Dickov believes it’s “ridiculous” how well he’s doing in Manchester.
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He said on City’s Matchday Live show: “It’s just getting ridiculous now. He’s just a freak in the best possible way. He’s always anticipating all the time. He’s an elite centre-forward already at 22. I don’t know what else to say! We just laughed to ourselves. That’s all we can do.”
Haaland scored 86 goals from 89 games at Borussia Dortmund (2020 – 2022), so it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that he’s hit the ground running at City. The 22-year-old has the Premier League’s best playmakers supplying bullets and he’s scoring 5.6 more than his expected goals, so Guardiola has a gem on his hands.
Haaland has scored or created a goal in every City game this season since their Community Shield defeat in July. Bournemouth are the only side to stop the Norwegian striker from hitting the back of the net in 12 outings, so Haaland is money well spent. Dickov’s assertion that Haaland is already an elite centre-forward is completely accurate.
In other news, bad news for Pep Guardiola as Kyle Walker faces injury layout following surgery
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