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Former footballers turned pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville recently picked their Premier League player of the season on Sky Sports. The two former rivals named Manchester City star Erling Haaland as the best footballer in the league this term.
Haaland joined Manchester City in the 2022 summer transfer window from Borussia Dortmund for a €60 million fee. He has been prolific ever since joining the club, breaking several goal-scoring records.
The Norway international has scored 36 goals in 34 league appearances this season, overtaking Andy Cole and Alan Shearer's joint record of most goals scored in a Premier League season (34). He still has two league matches left to add to his tally.
Carragher and Neville were picking their player and team of the season when they both chose Haaland as the best player for the 2022-23 Premier League season.
"It is like Messi and Ronaldo isn't it in terms of that goal-a-game?" Carragher said. "I think before Haaland, City had maybe the best striker in Premier League history in Sergio Aguero in terms of his minutes per goal anyway. So how does Haaland score that many more than Aguero with a similar team, same manager? That just shows he is a freak."
Neville went on to say:
"It is the first time that the Premier League has signed a player who is going to be the best in the world or is already at that level. They go to Real Madrid, they go to Barcelona, in recent years they have gone to Paris Saint-Germain. They do not go to the Premier League. We have grown the best player in the world."
"For instance, Cristiano Ronaldo came as a young kid and developed. I felt this player was a phenomenon. We knew he was special and what he has done is out of this world," he added.
Haaland has led Pep Guardiola's Manchester City to their third consecutive league title. The club are also on their way to winning a European treble. They have qualified for the finals of both the Champions League and the FA Cup.
Manchester City's Erling Haaland set to finish as 2022/23 Champions League top-scorer
While Haaland has all but secured the Premier League golden boot, he is also set to top the Champions League goal-scoring charts for the ongoing season. He has been ruthless in the continental competition as well, leading the Cityzens to the final, where they will face Inter.
He has 12 goals in 10 Champions League games so far, and he will love to add to that tally when City face the Nerazzurri on June 10 in Istanbul. Haaland is followed by Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, who has eight goals, and Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior (seven goals) on the top goal-scorers list.
Since both these aforementioned players' teams have been knocked out of the competition, the Champions League top-scorer award is all set to go to Haaland.
