Exactly, but under Pep, he is and will get even better with his all-round play!
I'm not exactly quite sure what his ceiling is on that. He will improve, yes. But he doesn't have a very good touch, to be honest, and he needs to improve his heading (signs that he has improved it, actually, by comparison with last season). He has
ferocious acceleration — there was a through ball from, I think, Kev, on Saturday, and he just motored past the defender and onto it, didn't score in the end, I think the angle had become too difficult, but he left the defender for
dead — and he is so strong that he simply can't be knocked off the ball when he's running with it. I've said in the past that he reminds me a bit of Jonah Lomu in that respect, taking account of the differences in the sport, of course.
For some reason, defenders seem to be allowed to simply pull him over in the box when he's waiting for crosses. Not exactly sure what the new rule is that allows them to do that. Maybe it's just the Manchester-City-must-be-stopped-at-all-costs rule.
Anyway, I think the jury's out on how much more he'll contribute to the team. Some of his lay-offs have been very good indeed. Listen, he scores cartloads of goals, and that's mainly what he came for.
Given a choice between watching Sergio and watching Erling, in pure footballing terms, it's not even close for me. Sergio, all day long.
However, in the long run, and
if he stays with us, he'll probably beat Sergio's record.
