Erling Haaland has weighed in on the increasing rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester City.
The Norway international arrived at the Etihad from Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund earlier in the window whilst the Reds responded with their own signing and the acquisition of Darwin Nunez from SL Benfica.
Liverpool and City have made up the top-two in three of the last four Premier League campaigns and Haaland has labelled the competitiveness between Jurgen and Klopp and Pep Guardiola as ‘insane’.
“It’s been insane to see Klopp and Guardiola pushing each other, all the players, fans, everyone,” he said (as quoted by Rousing The Kop).
“To be outside watching this, everybody talking about it, pushing each other to the very last game.
“It’s not often that happens and I think it’s really good for England and also good for the clubs to push each other to reach the next level – it’s really important and it has been nice to watch.
“It’s good that we push each other, that’s what we want. I like it a lot.”
There is a lot of respect between the two managers and they will openly admit that they make one another stronger.
Although Liverpool fans will claim they view games against Manchester United and Everton as ‘bigger’ games, our fixtures against the side from the blue half of Manchester have held more significance in recent seasons.
We’re expected to once again battle it out with City at the top of the Premier League next term after both of us strengthened our attacking options in the current window.
Haaland’s numbers from his time in Germany are seriously impressive, but the question now is whether he can continue to reach his potential in the English top-flight – numerous strikers who’ve tasted success in Europe have arrived in England and struggled to perform at a high level.
He netted 85 goals in 88 appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s former side, whilst our new forward Nunez had a quality campaign for Benfica last term.
The Uruguay international found the net 34 times in 41 outings for the Portuguese outfit.
It appears that Haaland is looking forward to the new campaign, and quite frankly, so are we!
We face the Sky Blues in the Community Shield on July 30 – it’d be nice to taste success against them and get our campaign off to a great start.