David James has claimed that Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is going to get better under Pep Guardiola.
The Norwegian is in the midst of his second season at the Manchester club after having a rather successful debut campaign, both from a team and an individual perspective.
Even though he’s started this season off in a similar manner to his previous one in terms of his goalscoring efforts, one pundit and former City player has made a big claim about what Haaland could still do during his time at the Etihad Stadium.
James backs Haaland to get even better
Speaking in a recent episode of the BBC’s Football Daily podcast, James had this to say about Haaland.
He said: “I also think Erling Haaland is going to get better. I think once Pep gets that right, Europe and the rest of the world, watch out, because they’ll be back at it again.”
Last season saw the 23-year-old, who City signed from Borussia Dortmund in the 2022 summer transfer window for £51m, score 52 goals in 53 appearances across all competitions. Whereas this season he has found the net 11 times in 14 games in total.
In terms of his overall performances in the Premier League last season, the Norway international earned himself a season rating of 7.54/10 from WhoScored, making him the second-highest-rated outfield player in the City squad.
With just nine league appearances to his name so far in this current campaign, Haaland has already racked up a similar performance rating to his one from last season, with WhoScored giving him a rating of 7.51/10, which is the highest at the club.
After seeing the centre-forward score two goals in City’s recent 3-1 win over Young Boys in the Champions League, Guardiola told the media that Haaland “has the desire to improve,” which could be why James thinks the striker will eventually improve on the already impressive quality he has shown during his time at the club.
