Manchester City cult hero Shaun Goater admits he's been left almost speechless by the early season achievements of Erling Haaland.
For Sunday's rout of Manchester United, Haaland made history as the first Premier League player to hit a hat-trick in three consecutive home games, after netting half of Man City's derby day tally for their 6-3 win.
It followed on from his trebles against Crystal Palace and then Nottingham Forest, at the Etihad Stadium at the end of August.
Goater, who scored 79 goals in 159 games for City, has watched on in awe and admits he's not seen anything like it.
He told Tribalfootball.com, on behalf of OLBG, "I don't think I've ever seen anybody have the sort of start and the form he's shown so far, it's really truly unbelievable.
"I'm sitting in the stands shocked at what I'm seeing, and he deserves to be the main topic of conversation.
"Normally the conversation about Manchester City is how much they're going to dominate play and create chances. Manchester City generally walk into games debating on who's going to score such as Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez or somebody else.
"But Haaland has created his own conversation, now it's a case of debating how many will he score in each game. In this team, the chances that are created just needed someone who was potent and clinical in front of goal. Haaland is both of those things and we've seen already that he's able to do it.
"His start has been absolutely phenomenal and in this Manchester City team you always felt if there was an out-and-out striker then they'd have a dream. And that's what Haaland is having, an absolute dream. He's the sort of striker who sees an opportunity a fraction of a second before others do and that's a unique quality.
"He can see the game building up, which player is on the ball and having an understanding with these players."
And Goater insists Haaland can only IMPROVE as his understanding with those around him gets stronger.
He continued: "De Bruyne, Foden, Mahrez and Grealish; he's starting to understand their qualities and when each of them are on the ball he understands where to be.
"It gives him that advantage ahead of defenders to what these players are going to do when they're on the ball. There was one particular game where Rodri, Gundogan and De Bruyne all set him up with a chance.
"I'm just sitting there thinking this just doesn't get better if you're a striker. The team recognises that there's a player there that looks for service and the rest of the team provide it.
"For me it shows it's working well at the minute because not only is Haaland scoring, but one or two other players are chipping in as well.
"When they didn't have a recognised striker, these players were having to chip in with goals and with Manchester City we all thought if they had that striker to score these goals then it would take a lot of pressure off the other players.
"It obviously isn't just about Haaland scoring loads of goals, other players still need to contribute but they have been doing. This is why I think we have the perfect Manchester City right now because he's scoring, and other players are getting goals as well."
