Manchester City star Erling Haaland has helped take Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish’s games to another level already this season, according to Rio Ferdinand.
Haaland has hit the ground running since joining Man City in a £51million transfer from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. He has scored 14 goals in just 10 matches across all competitions, with his latest strike helping Pep Guardiola’s side pick up a 3-0 win against Wolves on Saturday.
The Norwegian has been a game-changing signing for City, who sit top of the Premier League table ahead of Arsenal, who play Brentford on Sunday. Ferdinand believes that Haaland’s impact goes far beyond just his impressive goal tally, with those around him benefiting from his direct style.
“They’re only going to get stronger from this point on,” Ferdinand said of City on BT Sport. “The way that Haaland has come into this league and hit the ground like an absolute race horse is phenomenal.
“It’s not just him, Kevin De Bruyne, in terms of assists – 125 assists in the league. He’s taken everyone else’s game up another level. Jack Grealish, people try to question him and demand more in terms of output. Today, he answers the critics. All the things are ticking the right boxes. All things are looking positive right now. This is looking good.”
City took just one minute to open the scoring against Wolves, with Grealish finding the back of the net. The £100million signing from last summer hadn’t scored since a 2-2 draw against West Ham on May 15 and was open in his criticism of his game post-match.
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"I should be scoring and getting more assists," he told BT Sport. "The only thing I can do is score and get assists. I’m always going to have people talking about me with the amount I got bought for.
"If you look at my whole career, I probably haven’t scored as much as certain people, even when I was at Aston Villa I only scored 14, 15 goals over the two seasons in the Premier League. It’s something I do want to add to my game and playing with this team and in front of these fans, hopefully, I can."
Guardiola defended Grealish in the build-up to the match and reaffirmed his support in his post-match interview. "I said to them many times, they are here because I trust them unconditionally, all of them. I know them. I trust them unconditionally and Jack is not an exception," he said.
"He [Grealish] scored a goal and it was a good performance. Every time he has the ball it’s one against one against the full-back all the time. Ok, he didn’t score or assist but it’s a question of time.
"We didn’t help them to make more runners in the final third to create more time for him so that they have to play for themselves. They don’t have to say thank you. I have confidence in all of them and they have to play for them."
