Erling Haaland could score 800 career goals if he stays fit and maintains his high levels of professionalism, according to teammate Kevin De Bruyne. Since arriving at Manchester City in the summer, Haaland has already scored 24 goals, with De Bruyne already surpassing his total number of assists from last season with the help of target man Haaland. De Bruyne set up Haaland to open the scoring against Liverpool on Thursday in the Carabao Cup, and the pair have quickly formed a productive relationship on the field. De Bruyne, though, doesn’t feel Haaland is particularly different to any other professional or striker he has played with despite his remarkable scoring record.
Kevin De Bruyne said: “I don’t see Erling as different to a lot of people. He is a normal football player like everybody else and he doesn’t take himself too seriously. When you talk about professional footballers or professional athletes, I think 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 loves scoring goals, so I think that is the most unique thing he has.”
And De Bruyne went as far as to predict that if Haaland continues to stay fit and scoring at his current rate, he could score hundreds more goals in his career.
Kevin De Bruyne said: “It is very hard to compare [to other strikers] because they are all totally different. They play in the same position, but some are physical players, some are speed demons and they can all score goals for fun. Erling hasn’t because of his age, but they have all scored 300 or 400 goals. Erling is so obsessed with goals he can maybe go beyond that. 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. For the rest [I have played with], I don’t really compare them because that is not the way I look at football. Erling is a top-level striker. I don’t think it is fair to compare or rank them because some are at the start of their career and some are at the end or the middle of their careers, so I don’t like to rank them.”
