PEP GUARDIOLA has described his new signing Erling Haaland as an incredible talent after the Norwegian scored a brace on his debut against West Ham.
The £51million striker failed to convert against Liverpool in the Community Shield but made no mistake in East London yesterday.
A goal from the penalty spot and a well taken finish in the second half capped off a fine day for City's star forward.
"One week ago, he could not adapt to the Premier League. Now he's alongside Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer, and Cristiano Ronaldo," laughed City boss Guardiola after the game.
"He's a guy with incredible talent, a scorer of goals. I've known him for a month. I know how he handled criticism this week and he was calm, he trained really well. We will see when he is complimented how he reacts."
🗣 "One week ago when he missed the chance, he was a failure. Everybody laughed at him and now he is Thierry Henry and Ronaldo." — Football Daily (@footballdaily) August 7, 2022
Pep Guardiola laughs off the comparisons to Erling Haaland after one game pic.twitter.com/6vwv4mzjKF
When asked about his goals in the post-match interview if he could have scored a hat-trick
“Bit s***, but that’s how it is," Haaland said
He was corrected on the use of his language, but said it again by mistake
“Oh sorry, s***.” he added
Manchester City's new signing's attitude was commended by Guardiola, and he also received high praise from the Spainard. Guardiola compared his style to Messi.
“I like it,” he said. “I was fortunate as a manager to be with [Lionel] Messi and if he scored two, he wanted three. If he scored three, he wanted four.
“If he got four, he wanted five. The top goal scorers, the strikers, they are never satisfied. They are always starving.”
City play Bournemouth next Saturday, where it's expected that Haaland will increase his goal numbers again.
