We all knew it would happen but the question was more about when. 

Erling Haaland has been one of the most exciting players since he burst onto the scene with Red Bull Salzburg, where he became the first teenager to score in five consecutive Champions League matches. He was quickly snapped up by Dortmund in 2020, scoring a hat-trick on his debut in just 23 minutes after coming on as a sub. That got everyone’s attention and he went on to score at a rate of more than one goal per game for Dortmund, which we’ve only seen before with players like Messi and Ronaldo.

He was one of the most wanted player in football with any big club wishing for his signature, but it felt like a natural step for him to move to Man City where his father Alfie had played as a defender in the early 2000s.

And this weekend the time came. Erling Haaland scored his first Premier League hat-trick just four games into his time with Man City. He showed us his goal-scoring instinct, knowing how to be in the right place at the right time to poach for a goal. The best strikers sometimes make it look too easy, but the skill is in knowing exactly where to be and moving into the right space with perfect timing, which Haaland showed us against Crystal Palace.

He also showed his incredible strength for his third goal where he held off two defenders and finished, again making it look too easy. We’ve seen many top attacking players come to the Premier League and struggle to find the net consistently, so we know how difficult it actually is to get past Premier League defenders and do it on a weekly basis. So when Haaland makes it look easy it is a testament to his skill level, football IQ and physical attributes, especially his strength and his speed that make life so difficult for his opponents.

That combination makes him a nightmare for teams to deal with and we can only expect his goal-scoring tally to rise and rise, especially now has that first hat-trick which will be a big confidence boost and means that mental block that some strikers get if they don’t get off to the best start has already been overcome. If he can stay consistent we should see him end up being one of the top scorers in the league by the end of the season. Man City have never struggled for goals but now they have this new dimension to their game that is so hard to deal with tactically. #mmlove