Dickov Backs Haaland To Take Man City To New Level
Former Manchester City striker Paul Dickov expects Erling Haaland to take the Premier League leaders to a new level when he joins them next season.
Pep Guardiola's side confirmed on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement to sign Haaland from Borussia Dortmund for the next five seasons.
City will be bringing on board one of Europe's most fearsome forwards to complement an already impressive attacking line.
Haaland has scored 85 goals in 88 appearances since joining Dortmund from RB Salzburg in December 2019.
City have pretty much dominated the Premier League in recent seasons but always fall short in Europe.
Dickov, who played with Haaland's father, Alf-Inge, is confident the 21-year-old will improve Man City.
"They won it last year without having an out-and-out centre forward," Dickov said to Stats Perform.
"I know it's so tight this year, but as we stand at the minute, it's a little bit of an advantage to Manchester City - they've shown they can do it without signing one.
"I think if Erling Haaland had been in this team this year, City would have been out of sight weeks ago, and so on. It's scary to think about it, but it's going to take them to a completely different level now.
"I've followed Erling a long time, obviously, the connection I've got with his dad, and the improvement from his first time for Dortmund to now. His all-round game even in the last season or so, for somebody that's only 21, the maturity of the game management, it shows when he went there, there was an out-and-out goal scorer that he is now."
"The people can argue against that and say City scored five at the weekend, a couple of weeks ago against Watford, four against Leeds, you know, but they have been missing that out and out number nine," he said.
"I think any player that comes in to Manchester City, it's a new way of playing for them. A new style, they've got quality players within there already, and I look at Erling's improvement.
"With players like De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, and you could go on and on, but the amount of chances that they do create, they've just needed an out-and-out finisher to do it and Erling Haaland is one of the best in the world."
