Manchester City star striker Erling Haaland has wasted no time in stamping his name on the footballing fabric in the Premier League in 2022-23 since his much-anticipated arrival from German giants Borussia Dortmund, with the 22-year-old Norwegian having already blitzed the top flight of English football in the goalscoring column.
The Leeds-born Norway international has already smashed 17 goals on the home front for the holding league champions while helping City keep pace with table-topping Arsenal, and has also chimed in on five occasions in the Champions League as Pep Guardiola’s troops topped Group G due to their superior head-to-head record and goal difference over Haaland’s former Ruhr valley employers.
For England veteran and City stalwart Kyle Walker, his immediate rise on the blue half of Manchester comes as no surprise after the former Tottenham right-back shed light on his take regarding how Haaland has hit the ground running at the Etihad.
When speaking with SportBible (relayed by Mail Sport), Walker stated “Obviously, he’s come and set the Premier League alight. I think that’s full credit to him and his team around him. It’s down to his dedication to the game, he’s 22, and we need to remember that. His diet; do I think that that’s the big part of why he’s had this success? It could be a small part, the small percentages make up for the big things in the long run.”
“But I just put it down to his dedication to the game. I think his dad probably has a big influence on what he does on and off the field. He probably looks at it and says, ‘Well, this is where I went wrong,’ or ‘this is what really helped me in my game.’ As long as he’s doing what he’s doing, and he keeps doing it throughout the season and scoring goals. I’m not too bothered what he eats.”
Walker’s comments have come in the wake of rumors that Haaland consumes a whopping 6,000 calories a day in order to maintain the physical side of his game, but as eluded to by the England international, caloric intake is no guarantee of success without the work it takes on and off the pitch to sustain your performance levels at the highest tier of the professional game.
At the time of writing, City is 1-0 down at home against Sevilla to close the Champions League group stage, with both Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne unfit for service, with the latest update on Haaland slating him for a possible return against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.
City has struggled for goals without him leading the line in recent weeks, with a 0-0 draw against Dortmund last week on the back of his being removed at half-time, which was followed up by a narrow 1-0 win away at Leicester City at the weekend courtesy of a De Bruyne free-kick.
Haaland’s influence at the club is unquestionable already, and his return his immediate return is no doubt required if the club is to push as hard as possible before the break in the schedule for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
