Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland (Picture: Getty)
Emile Heskey believes one Premier League striker ‘could be even better’ than Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland.
Haaland was considered one of the most best strikers in the world before his arrival at Man City and has only enhanced his reputation over the past two years.
He scored a remarkable 52 goals in his first 12 months at the Etihad Stadium and bagged another 38 last season to help Manchester City win a historic treble and end their wait for a Champions League trophy.
Despite Haaland’s extraordinary goalscoring exploits, Heskey says Aston Villa and England star Ollie Watkins ‘could be even better’ than the Norwegian.
Watkins enjoyed three consistent seasons at Villa before taking his game to a new level last term, scoring 27 goals in all competitions to help Unai Emery’s side qualify for the Champions League.
Gareth Southgate included Watkins in England’s squad for Euro 2024 following the striker’s impressive performances and while he hardly featured out in Germany due to the presence of all-time record goalscorer Harry Kane, he did come off the bench to score a famous winner in the semi-final win over the Netherlands.
‘I think Aston Villa have got the best striker in the Premier League after Erling Haaland in Ollie Watkins,’ Heskey told 10bet.
Aston Villa and England star Ollie Watkins (Picture: Getty)
‘There’s an argument to be made that Watkins could be on par or even better than Haaland at this moment in time because of his all-round game and what he gives Aston Villa on top of the goals that he scores.
‘At Man City, Haaland doesn’t really need to get that involved with the play, whereas Watkins has to be involved all the time at Villa.’
In his first season at Manchester City, Haaland broke the record for the most goals scored in a Premier League campaign with 36.
The 24-year-old looks set to threaten that record this season, already sitting on ten goals after just seven games having netted back-to-back hat-tricks in August.
Ex-England striker Emile Heskey (Picture: Getty)
Manchester City are currently second in the Premier League, three points above an Aston Villa side who have also enjoyed a promising start to the campaign.
Villa sealed a famous victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League earlier in the month and Heskey, who played for the club, has backed them to win a trophy this season.
‘Unai Emery has got a phenomenal record in terms of winning trophies, especially cups,’ said Heskey, who scored 110 goals in 516 Premier League appearances.
‘I have been really impressed with everything that he has achieved at Aston Villa in such a short space of time, especially after he was ridiculed after his spell managing Arsenal, which I think was really unfair on him.
‘At Aston Villa, we’ve seen the real Unai Emery. We’ve seen the results of the meticulous work that goes on behind-the-scenes in terms of structure and how they play.
Aston Villa are thriving under Unai Emery (Picture: Getty)
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Source:: Metro
