Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji insisted that Erling Haaland is only going to get better after his scintillating start under Pep Guardiola.
Haaland has made a staggering start at the Etihad Stadium, scoring 14 times in just eight league matches since arriving in the summer to leave himself seven goals clear of his nearest challenger – Harry Kane – in the race for the Premier League’s Golden Boot.
Mohamed Salah currently hold the record for number of goals in a 38-game campaign, having netted 32 in 2017-18. Akanji expects Haaland to ease past this number, should he remain fit.
‘If he stays healthy then I think there is nothing that can stop him, yeah,’ Akanji said when asked if it is possible for Haaland to score 50 league goals this term, as quoted by The Sun.
In a separate interview, Akanji delivered a stark warning to Premier League defenders that the Norwegian is only going to get better in this City team.
“It is hard to predict what someone is going to do when they are going to a new club because you never know what is going to happen,” Akanji told City’s in-house media team.
“But I am not surprised with what he is doing right now. I do think he is doing it at a higher level to what he was doing at Dortmund, but it is also to do with the team and the players that he has around him, the passes he gets.
“Also, his finishing, his runs from deep, his headers, he has improved a lot already. If he keeps on doing that, he will score more and more goals.”
The Norwegian forward is yet to miss a game for City this season, and has also found the net on five occasions in three appearances in the Champions League.
Haaland was troubled by a number of muscle problems in his final season in the Bundesliga which limited him to just 24 appearances in Germany’s top flight.
Haaland is likely to start for Pep Guardiola’s side when they face off against Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, with the reigning champions hoping to leapfrog current league leaders Arsenal at the top of the table.
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