Manchester City’s rivals have been warned that Erling Haaland has not even fully adapted to the team’s style of play yet, with Kevin De Bruyne adamant there is much more to come.
Haaland was in lethal form again on Tuesday as he scored twice in City’s comfortable 4-0 win over Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan in their Champions League Group G opener.
His first saw him get on the end of a De Bruyne cross, while his second was a tap-in after Phil Foden’s shot was deflected straight at him.
Haaland became only the fourth player to score on his UEFA Champions League debut with three different clubs, also joining Borussia Dortmund and Salzburg.
His performances at Sevilla continued from his electric start to the Premier League season, where he took 12 goals in just seven games across all competitions.
And what could cause even more fear in opponents is that De Bruyne believes he has yet to fully adapt.
“I think the way he’s adapted to us is really good, but I think there’s another part to the game outside of scoring,” he told BT Sport.
“I think that part is harder to adapt to. That’s what makes it exciting. If he can adapt to the way we play, the levels will rise.”
He added: “I try to do my job, make the right moves and try to create as many chances as possible and I know that one way or another, Erling will be there.
“He’s scoring goals at the moment so that helps us win games.
City manager Pep Guardiola was almost bemused by Haaland’s record, pointing out that it was not too different from the goalscoring rate he had at his previous clubs.
He just hopes the Norwegian striker continues his early starts.
“I think his numbers throughout his career, not only here but in previous teams, are quite similar,” Guardiola said.
“So he has an incredible sense of goal – he scored two goals and had two or three more chances.
“We’ve got incredible goalscoring numbers so we want to continue that. Next battle on Saturday against Tottenham so hopefully he’ll continue to score goals.”
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