ERLING HAALAND is proving to Pep Guardiola that he is an even better player than everyone knew — and is also hungrier than ever.
Which is quite the statement from the Manchester City boss given the way his Norwegian Viking plundered goals during his first two seasons.
Even Pep seems stunned by the development of the striker who has scored an astonishing 94 goals in 101 games for City since his £51.4million arrival from Borussia Dortmund in July 2022.
He now has ten hat–tricks for the Etihad side, his latest in last Saturday’s 4-1 thumping of Prem new boys Ipswich.
The 24-year-old just loves scoring in August and has four goals from the champs’ first two league games this season.
Since his debut two years ago, he has 16 Premier League goals in the opening month of the season, with just six other clubs — plus City, obviously — scoring more.
Haaland has scored SIX more than Manchester United have managed as a team in the past three Augusts.
It is his favourite month for scoring — and City’s No 9 will be looking to add to his haul at West Ham’s London Stadium on Saturday evening.
‘Thor’ has hammered the Hammers, hitting four goals in four games against them.
Haaland’s desire, his work rate, his goal ratio and his development as more of a team player and not just the world’s scariest hitman has blown away his manager.
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Guardiola purrs when he describes how his superstar is becoming a more all–round footballer to add to his penalty box prowess.
The Spaniard said: “That part was always going to happen naturally.
“He can do it but still it is his ability, his strength and potential and power and being a goal machine. Please don’t change never ever that. He cannot lose that.
“He is more involved within the tactics of the team because we talk about how you can do better.”
On top of Haaland’s four goals so far it is his general air, a more mature, relaxed attitude combined with a renewed focus to achieve more that really has Treble-winning boss Guardiola impressed.
Pep explained: “When he arrived from Dortmund, he had a lot of problems with injuries and he struggled a little with that.
“Last season, he struggled with the success of the past. This season I feel he is better.
“I won’t say he will score 50 or 60 goals this season because that would be difficult.
“But he is staying on the pitch after training sessions a bit more for crosses and finishing.
“I spoke with the physios and he doesn’t have any niggles, when in the first season he had a lot.
“So he’s always smiling and of course right now it’s one game a week but tiredness will come, the winter will come.
“Now he goes to play the Nations League with Norway and it’s a ten-hour flight and then it’s back and this stuff can accumulate so he has to be careful.
“But after the tour of the States he came back focused in training and it’s really good.”
Guardiola always believed 6ft 4in Haaland — who heads to Kazakhstan with Norway after Saturday’s clash — would be everything at the Etihad that his reputation promised.
And Pep says that, if anything, he is growing more and more into one of the greats of football’s modern-day era.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich chief, 53, added: “Yes, we talk about that, his professional focus is complete.
“Every day in training and in every game it’s so demanding and he knows it.
“Every season it’s one more year in your body but he’s enjoying training, enjoying scoring goals and he has the mentality to be better and better.
“Always that never disappears. It’s not like ‘OK, I’ve already done it. It doesn’t matter’.
“That’s not him. This season I see it’s still there. I see that he wants to perform well and not just for me but for the team.
“This season he plays good. Why? Because he wants to.
“’Still I want to score more goals, still I want to win the Premier League or again be in the final stages of the Champions League or whatever. And be a better player’.
“As much as he’s happy and enjoying scoring goals, it never disappears.”
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Haaland’s progress is such that his boss now believes he is becoming a leader of men and not just the leader of the line.
The striker’s stature in City’s dressing room was boosted even further last season when he scored 38 goals following a record-breaking 52 in his debut campaign as City won an historic Treble.
Pep added: “His stature is a little bit higher. Now he knows the environment, the players, how we live.
“That is normal and if he stays longer he will be one of the captains of the team — that is normal.
“The impact, I have said many many times, is really good.
“He is always happy and positive and is incredible. On the pitch it is not necessary for us to talk about but off the pitch it was a surprise for all of us.
“His relationship with the other players is really good — he is always positive and while I am not in the dressing room, I see it sometimes in the canteen or on the pitch.
“The relations between them all is extraordinary. I said last season this group is unbelievable so it is one of our strengths.
“How good they train, how they compete, they are friends and that is really good.”
