After acknowledging he’s been impressed by his debut Premier League season, Erling Haaland has urged fellow Scandinavian striker and Manchester rival Rasmus Hojlund to keep getting better.
Despite a poor start, Hojlund is beginning to show promise for Manchester United.
Haaland leads the Premier League in goals scored with 18 this season, and he has now scored 54 in 57 league appearances for Manchester City.
Hojlund, meanwhile, broke his drought on Boxing Day and scored in six straight Premier League games, before getting injured. United suffered without him during Sunday’s derby at the Etihad Stadium.
Despite the disparity in expectations and goal scoring records between the two attackers this season, Haaland was impressed by him during the first Manchester derby.
“His start was a bit hard, but then it became much better. When we played against him he was really good, he’s a good player, he’s young like me, he has to keep on developing and as a striker for Manchester United he has to score goals as well, that’s his job,” the Man City striker said, speaking to reporters ahead of City’s Champions League clash with Danish side Copenhagen, as quoted by The Standard.
Hojlund, who turned 21 last month, joined City’s rivals United last summer in a transfer that was reportedly valued at more than £72 million—more than what was spent for Haaland.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer attempted to bring Haaland to Old Trafford in January 2020, but the striker chose to join Borussia Dortmund instead. Haaland was frequently linked to a transfer to United but a move never materialised.
