Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said that he is a big fan of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian had a stunning debut season with the Citizens last year by scoring 52 goals in 53 games across all competitions, winning three major titles in the process.
Now though, one former striker, who knows a thing or two about scoring goals and what it takes to play under Pep Guardiola, has shared his assessment of the City star.
Ibrahimovic praises Haaland
Speaking in a recent interview with Piers Morgan (via talkSPORT), Ibrahimovic had this to say about Haaland and what he admires about the City striker.
He said: “I think Haaland is very intelligent in the way he’s playing. He doesn’t touch the ball more than he needs to. I see he has this killer instinct, even if he has a hat-trick he still wants to score the fourth goal, fifth goal.
“I think he’s in the perfect environment. Is there more to do from him? I don’t know. What is more to do for him? If you say to him to get better, what is that? From three goals to six goals? From six to nine? So is he the maximum of what he is because what you expect from him is goals. So if you don’t get goals, you will say he didn’t have a good day.”
During his illustrious career, Ibrahimovic scored 496 goals in 827 club appearances, which highlights his credentials in being able to identify and talk about what a successful striker looks like.
In terms of the City’s star’s intelligence, the former AC Milan striker isn’t the only ex-footballer to have praised this aspect of his game, as Gary Lineker also hailed Haaland’s brain power back in August.
While the extraordinary number of goals that the 23-year-old has scored for City undoubtedly being the main aspect that most people will recognise about him, it’s nice to hear that two former strikers acknowledge Haaland’s intelligence and how that helps him perform the way he does.
Moving forward, if the centre-forward can continue to score goals on a regular basis and help his side win more trophies, he’ll undoubtedly find himself on the end of more praise and winning more individual awards as well.
