Gary Neville makes Ballon D’or prediction about Man City star Erling Haaland

Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United right-back Gary Neville has backed Manchester City striker Erling Haaland to be the recipient of multiple Ballon D’Or awards.

The Norway international has made an astonishing start to life in the Premier League with 10 goals in his first six matches, including back-to-back hat-tricks against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.

With City having been dominant in the Premier League since Pep Guardiola arrived at the club, many pundits have claimed that Haaland has been brought in to push the Blues over the line in Europe.

And Neville agrees with such claims as City gear up for this season’s Champions League. Following his early-season heroics, He expects Haaland to go on and win Ballon d’Ors while playing in the Premier League.

Neville told Sky Sports: “There’s things happening this season that are not smooth but I anticipate Manchester City will win this league, and they could win it comfortably.

“Erling Haaland is… it just looks a bit unfair. I remember when I watched James Bond films when I was younger and there was the character Jaws, who was about 7ft 2in. He used to just pick people up and chuck them on the floor, and it’s a little bit like that when you watch Haaland against strong centre-backs. You think, ‘wow, he’s just unplayable – how do you even cope with him in the box?’.

“The one thing I would say is Haaland’s career at City will probably prolong his overall career, because he’s just standing there. The way Manchester City play, with that possession that they keep, you never really see him stretching teams, other than when they get one or two in front.

“I just have to say that I’m massively impressed with him. It’s the first time we’ve signed what I believe to be one of the top two or three players in the world for the future. Ordinarily, those players go to Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid or Barcelona.

“Cristiano Ronaldo, when he became the best player in the world here [at Manchester United] or maybe Thierry Henry at Arsenal, they didn’t sign as prospects to be the best player in the world, they just developed to being that when they were here.

“But this player – you fully anticipate he’s going to go on and win Ballon d’Ors and be the best player in the world. That’s exciting – that’s not happened for quite a while in the Premier League.”

It’s hard to disagree with Neville’s assessment after witnessing what has been a monstrous start to the season from Haaland.