Manchester City have a knack for producing young talents and integrating them in their senior ranks.
Names such as Phil Foden, Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb and James McAtee have all worked their way through City’s academy and become fully-fledged members of the first-team squad.
A current youngster who got a small taste of what it’s like to be around the first team in recent months is Jaden Heskey.
In fact, the 18-year-old was part of the squad who took part in last summer’s preseason tour of America.
Now though, the teenager has shed some light on this particular period and named a specific figure in Pep Guardiola’s ranks who blew him away on the training pitch.
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Jaden Heskey sheds light on being amazed by Erling Haaland
In a recent interview with Manchester World, Heskey gave this honest reflection on how he felt being in and amongst some of the senior City players in preseason, including one figure who particularly impressed him.
He said: “Seeing [Erling] Haaland’s finishing in person every day, it was ridiculous. I learned a lot from all of them. Being around them the whole time, you see how professional they are, how they train every day.
“It was just crazy to feel like a first-team player for that trip. Being in New York, even the other places, getting off the bus and everyone was screaming. It was mainly for Haaland obviously.”
Bernardo Silva loves having Haaland as a teammate
Since City’s preseason tour of America, Haaland has gone on to score 15 goals in 16 appearances across all competitions this season.
After seeing the Norwegian score City’s winning goal in their 1-0 victory over Southampton at the Etihad Stadium last month, Bernardo Silva praised Haaland, saying this about how glad he is to have the striker as a teammate.
He said: “We have the big guy up front so these type of crosses, these type of actions inside the boss that is his main quality. He’s there, he’s hungry to score more and more.
“Today he helped us win the game and we are very happy to have him in our team as you can imagine.”
| Erling Haaland | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Trophies Won |
| Premier League | 77 | 75 | 12 | 2 |
| Champions League* | 24 | 21 | 2 | 1 |
| FA Cup | 7 | 8 | 0 | 1 |
| Carabao Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Taking into account how much of a top goalscorer Haaland has proved himself to be, it may not surprise too many City supporters to hear that Heskey – whose father knows a thing or two when it comes to scoring goals – has admitted he was amazed by the Norway international’s finishing ability.
Moving forward, with the teenager having bagged 19 goals and delivered five assists in 67 combined appearances for City’s youth ranks, it’ll be interesting to see if he ever gets the chance to play with Haaland in the first team anytime soon.
