Gabby Agbonlahor has suggested that Erling Haaland could break his own goalscoring record with Manchester City next season.
The striker, who City paid £51m to sign last summer, didn’t score but provided the assist for Phil Foden’s goal during City’s 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion last night.
With one Premier League game left to play, the Norwegian has found the net 36 times in 35 appearances, beating the record of 34 goals scored in one league campaign set by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer.
Agbonlahor tips Haaland to break his own record
Having already secured his first league title with the Citizens, talks about what Haaland could do next season have already begun, with one pundit suggesting the striker can raise the bar he’s set even higher.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Agbonlahor said this on the matter.
He said: “All these teams are probably looking at Haaland and thinking Haaland will get better next season. It wouldn’t surprise me if he breaks his record next season as well.
“Last night his movement for the Foden goal, honestly, I was sat there like ‘wow’. He knows he can lay it off, first touch and make a run and they’re going to find him. And he did that, one touch to [Riyad] Mahrez, in behind and the defenders were shocked like, ‘where’s he gone?’”
Given the impressive number of goals the 22-year-old has scored in his debut season in England, it will surely be a challenge for him to replicate or to even score more.
However, with a stronger knowledge of his teammates and how Pep Guardiola wants his side to play, this should help Haaland get better, not just at scoring goals but being a better player in general in other aspects of his game.
For example, with the lowest passing accuracy percentage (72.1%) in City’s squad, as well as only winning 50% of his aerial duels, these are two areas where the centre-forward can look to improve.
Despite that, the hope for everyone at the Manchester club will be that Haaland can have as much of an impact in front of goal every season as he’s had in this campaign.
