Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has tipped Erling Haaland to scale the same goalscoring heights as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.Haaland has produced an extraordinary debut season at Manchester City so far, netting 24 times in 19 matches.
The 22-year-old goes to Leeds United, another former club of his father Alfie, on Wednesday as City hunt down Arsenal at the top of the Premier League. Kevin De Bruyne has backed Erling Haaland to match the goalscoring feats of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo if he remains fit throughout his career The success of City's campaign will hinge somewhat on Haaland's fitness, with the club's medical staff keeping a close eye on his workload. Boss Pep Guardiola withdrew him early in both the friendly victory over Girona and the Carabao Cup win against Liverpool. 'You don't know what will happen when players come from South America, but he already seemed like an adult playing for us. I am happy for him. Maybe he felt he could have played a little bit more, but the more the season has gone on, the more he has played. He has actually scored quite a few goals.' Speaking at a pre-match press conference, De Bruyne lavished praise on Haaland and stated that his teammate has the potential to cross the goalscoring landmarks set by Ronaldo and Messi. He said: "Erling is so obsessed with goals. He already has about 200 goals, so he can probably go to 600, 700 or 800 if he stays fit and does the things that he does. He is a top-level striker. I don't see him as different to a lot of people. He is a normal footballer like everybody else and he doesn't take himself too seriously." Sharing his thoughts on the left-footed striker, De Bruyne continued:"When you talk about professional footballers, everybody has that little edge. I don't think you can become a professional player if you don't have that little something to become the best version you can be. He is still a young boy enjoying his life and he takes his football very seriously. He just loves scoring goals."
Haaland has shown in the Premier League since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund for £51m earlier this summer, so far he has scored 24 goals and provided three assists in just 19 appearances across all competitions for Pep Guardiola's team.
The Norwegian rose to fame during his time with Red Bull Salzburg before starring in Dortmund for two and a half seasons, and has so far scored 180 goals and 42 assists in 224 appearances.
He continued, "I think the media has been doing that with Ronaldo and Messi for the last 10 years and I think they were pushing each other as well. I think it was a positive thing."
Ronaldo scored 819 goals and contributed 266 assists in 1,145 matches with Portugal, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus and Sporting Lisbon. On the other hand, Messi scored 793 goals and 387 assists in 1,003 matches for Argentina, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.