Gary Lineker: Haaland is a better version of me!

Former Tottenham and England striker Gary Lineker has told William Hill that Erling Haaland is a “bigger, quicker and stronger version” of himself, while Alan Shearer expects the Manchester City striker to improve again next season.

Speaking exclusively to William Hill at the Football Writers’ Association awards, Lineker said: “I think we all thought he [Erling Haaland] would score goals. I watched him a lot at Borussia Dortmund over the years and knew what a talent he was, but to do what he’s done in his first season, having had to adapt to different players and a different style of playing, it’s been quite remarkable. The worrying thing for all other teams is he’s probably only going to get better when he settles in!

“He’s a bigger, quicker and stronger version of me. He’s a box player and I was a box player. I watch what strikers do and whenever I watch him and I think ‘go there’, and he does.

“His movement is wonderful. He understands how to score goals because it is a science; if you make enough runs into space eventually the ball will go there. He gets that so well and he just knows where the ball will go and that’s why he scores so many goals.

“Go back a couple of years and there was lots of chat around false nines and whether the centre forward would even exist anymore, but he’s changed that.

“I’m not comparing them, but he’s already matching the [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi-number of goals. You can see the drive he has and he’s only going to get better.”

Shearer: Haaland will only improve and get better; he’s the ideal centre forward

Alan Shearer was another guest at the FWA awards, and like Lineker, the Premier League’s leading goalscorer was full of praise for Haaland.

“He’s been phenomenal,” Shearer said. “I don’t think many people were asking whether he could do in the Premier League what he did in Germany, but he’s emphatically answered the question of those that were.

“I think he is the ideal centre forward. If you are building the ideal centre forward from scratch, you want someone who is quick, strong, good in the air and can put the ball in the back of the net – Haaland has all of those. I don’t really see any weaknesses in his game, to be honest.”

Haaland, voted the FWA Footballer of the Year, has scored a remarkable 52 goals in all competitions this season, and worryingly for defences across Europe, Shearer expects the Norwegian to keep on improving.

He said: “When you have set the standard that he has this season, everyone is going to be looking at him to do it again next season. I think he’ll be able to do that.

“Of course, it helps when you have great players around you. Playing with [Kevin] De Bruyne is a centre forward’s dream; you know that nine times out of 10, wherever you are he’s going to find you, so that obviously helps a huge amount.

“He’s still very young, and the scary thought for defenders and other teams is that he’s going to improve and get better.”