De Bruyne believes Haaland can match Messi and Ronaldo scoring feats
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.
And De Bruyne believes Haaland could go down as one of the game’s all-time greats.
‘He already has about 200 goals, so he can probably go to 600, 700 or 800 if he stays fit and does the things he does,’ the Belgian said. ‘Erling is a top-level striker.’
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.
There also remains the potential for Haaland to play up front alongside World Cup winner Julian Alvarez once the young Argentine returns.
‘At the beginning we saw that Julian was really talented,’ De Bruyne added.
‘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.’
