Kevin De Bruyne admits confusion at Erling Haaland reception at Man City

Kevin De Bruyne says he was surprised at the reaction to Erling Haaland's signing, with plenty of pundits and commentators declaring that he would struggle to settle in at Manchester City.

After the Community Shield defeat to Liverpool, where Haaland missed a big chance to open his account for City, there was plenty of noise suggesting that quiet games like that would be common for Haaland as he settled into the demands of the Premier League.

12 games later, though, and Haaland has 20 goals and three assists to his name, smashing all expectations of him since signing from Borussia Dortmund. And teammate De Bruyne feels that initial noise was confusing to him and the City squad.

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“I don’t understand why people would say it would be difficult to score goals here,” De Bruyne told City's website.

“I think we have an amazing team, we create a lot of opportunities for our strikers so if he’s there, he will score goals. I think he made a very good decision to come.”

And De Bruyne added that he was always confident Haaland would begin firing in the City squad, saying: “He did it before. He’s a very good striker.

“I am very happy for him that he started the way that he started with us because obviously there was a lot of pressure coming here. But he’s fine, he’s very relaxed and he’s started well. He scores a lot of goals so he’s helping us to win games.”

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