Former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney was one of a trio of strikers namedropped by Gary Neville as the pundit gave his verdict on Erling Haaland.
Norway international Haaland only joined City from Borussia Dortmund last summer but has already made a huge impact with his team chasing a treble. The 22-year-old has scored a record-equalling 34 Premier League goals with games to spare and has 50 from 44 appearances in all competitions.
The striker's style and output have brought Rooney comparisons to Neville, who played with the England international for club and country. However, the pundit has also spoken about seeing elements of Harry Kane and Brazilian legend Ronaldo in the City hotshot.
" Erling Haaland is... he's got the finishing of Kane, the power of Rooney, he's unbelievable," Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast (via the MEN). His comments about the hotshot came as he recognised City have the treble "in their hands" despite some tough upcoming tests.
"He's unbelievable, even the Brazilian Ronaldo, the power he used to have when he ran, the explosion off the mark," Neville added. "He's almost like four players in one.
"It looks like now that harmony is coming at the perfect time in the season, where everything he delivers contributes so much more to City than when they had perfection before. I like Manchester City's style of play now in this team more than I have done for the last four or five years under Pep Guardiola because of Erling Haaland. He's that powerhouse, the imperfection of some of his touches, some of his play."
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Pep Guardiola praised Haaland after his penalty helped City edge past Fulham on Sunday, though he added that "The best goal is to help us achieve what we want". Haaland already has the record for most goals in a 38-game Premier League season, while he needs just one more to pass the all-time record in the competition's 31-year history.
"This amount of games is a lot but we knew that after we beat Arsenal at home that winning these types of games is really important," City's manager said. "The players behaved amazingly.
“It's important but on Tuesday Arsenal will play. The important thing is the West Ham game [on Wednesday], it's a game in hand. After that, we'll be top of the table and it will be more real.”
Fulham brought themselves back level on Sunday, only for Haaland's strike partner Julian Alvarez to fire home a long-range winner. Victory left the reigning champions a point clear of challengers Arsenal with a game in hand, having closed the gap in midweek when Haaland was on target in a 4-1 victory over the Gunners.
