Manchester City goalscorer Erling Haaland has several reasons to be fired up ahead of the 2025/2026 season.
First things first, it goes without saying that the Norwegian international will be determined to help City win either the Premier League or the Champions League in the following campaign.
With Haaland being content at Manchester City and hungry to taste more success, the 24-year-old would also be hoping to top the league’s goalscoring charts (22) after both Mohamed Salah (29) and Alexander Isak (23) outscored him last season.
Rayan Cherki believes he could help Haaland continue to cement his status as one of the most feared marksmen in the world and the striker himself will be excited about the prospect of playing alongside the Frenchman.
Erling Haaland could be spurred on to dominate if Arsenal sign Viktor Gyokeres
In Arsenal target Viktor Gyokeres, the Manchester City number nine could compete for the Premier League’s Golden Boot award with a potentially world-class striker as well.
Arsenal are expected to sign Gyokeres and what should ominous for Manchester City’s domestic rivals is that Haaland seems to embrace competition — as he blew all the comparisons between himself and Darwin Nunez out of the water by scoring a record 36 goals in the league during his debut campaign.
With the Swede scoring 97 goals in 102 appearances for Sporting CP, fans and pundits alike will likely pit him up against the City number nine, who is widely regarded as the division’s best goalscorer.
However, Jack Grealish touched on Haaland’s incredible professionalism and naturally, he will be driven to outperform Gyokeres as that could very well be the differentiating factor between Manchester City and Arsenal in the title race.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak revealed Haaland’s competitive streak by disclosing that at the end of last season, he was willing not to jet off to vacation and stay within the Sky Blues’ complex; such is his burning desire to lead City from the front.
While Viktor Gyokeres could be the man to lead Arsenal to the title, if he unintentionally motivates the two-time Premier League winner to play his best football, Mikel Arteta would have every reason to be concerned.
Erling Haaland and Viktor Gyokeres stats compared last season
Speaking to the Official Man City Podcast, the former Borussia Dortmund phenomenon expressed his desire to improve even further, which sums up his elite mindset, as he said: “There’s loads of things to still improve. When you play so many games, it’s difficult to train because you have to get ready and do the stuff that gets you fit for the next game.”
“I want to become even better with the team, to be more solid with the team and to perform in the biggest games. And I want to recreate the things we did last season [after winning the treble].”
Based on last season, Gyokeres has the edge on Haaland, which gives the latter another reason to be motivated by his potential move to Arsenal.
| STATS LAST SEASON | ERLING HAALAND | VIKTOR GYOKERES |
| STARTS | 42 | 44 |
| GOALS | 31 | 54 |
| ASSISTS | 5 | 13 |
The former Coventry City frontman scored 54 goals while also registering 13 assists while Haaland amassed 36 goal involvements, which included 31 goals and five assists.
However, now that Gyokeres could play in the Premier League, how he adapts playing in a much superior division in comparison to Liga Portugal will best determine how he stacks up against the Leeds-born speedster.
