Kevin de Bruyne believes Erling Haaland’s obsession with goals he means he could join Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the select group of footballers who have scored 800 times in his career by the time he hangs up his boots.
The Norwegian has made a spectacular start to his Manchester City by scoring 24 goals in 19 games and, at the age of just 22, has already scored 200 goals for clubs and country.
De Bruyne, who has established a fine understanding with Haaland since the striker’s summer transfer from Borussia Dortmund, thinks he has the ability to quadruple that tally before he retires.
Ronaldo has scored the most goals in the history of professional football, with 819 goals for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Portugal, with Messi not far behind him.
De Bruyne has often been a teammate of prolific strikers, whether City’s record scorer Sergio Aguero or Romelu Lukaku, who has struck 68 times for Belgium.
As he thought back to forwards he has lined up alongside, midfielder De Bruyne said: “It is very hard to compare 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.
“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.”
