Although already kicking butt seriously, and most impressively, at his tender age, it is obvious Norwegian dynamo Erling Braut Haaland still has a long way to go at Manchester City to catch up with Sergio Aguero, City’s record scorer.
Be that as it may, coach extraordinaire Pep Guardiola is more than confident his close-season signing will in due time write himself illustriously into the club’s folklore and cement his place as one of the Etihad’s enduring legends.
Guardiola has issued a challenge to his new charge Haaland to become a Manchester City legend in the aftermath of the Norway striker’s second successive hat-trick brilliantly inspired a 6-0 rout of Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
Haaland’s blistering 26-minute treble was the coup de grace in the first half that was catalytic to the demolition of their newly-promoted rivals at the Etihad Stadium, just four days after he had notched his first hat-trick against Crystal Palace.
Even at this early juncture, the 22-year-old has already earned the distinction of being the first player in the Premier League era to net nine times in his first five appearances in the competition, breaking a record shared by former City icon Sergio Aguero and Micky Quinn.
No doubt the towering, statuesque lad still has some ways to go to catch up with Aguero, City’s record scorer, but Guardiola is confident his clatest protegé from Borussia Dortmund will vindicate himself with unequalled distinction.
“Sergio is the legend. Nobody can break the position in the hearts of City fans, scoring the most important goal in the modern history,” Guardiola said.
“Erling has the quality to be there. It’s not about him or Sergio. What Sergio has done is amazing. But Erling has this talent.
“When City bought Erling, everybody talked about what he has done in the past. What we wanted to do is help him. Hopefully he can enjoy and score more goals.
“What he has done in Norway, Austria and Germany he tries to do here. He’s talented, we knew it.”
Already being forecasted to be the firm favorite to finish as this season’s Premier League top scorer, Guardiola insists helping champions City retain the title would mean more to his striker than garnering personal accolades.
“I think what we want is win the titles. If the record and the goals help to win it will be perfect,” he said.
“Knowing him a little bit, I don’t know if he’d be happy breaking records if we didn’t win titles.
“I think he wants to be part of that. The better we play, he’ll have more chances to score goals.”