‘That was scary’: BBC pundit suggests Liverpool should be frightened by £51m player

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Erling Haaland put a dodgy debut against Liverpool behind him to fire Manchester City to victory on Sunday.

The towering Norway international scored twice as the Premier League champions began the defence of their title with a 2-0 victory away to West Ham United yesterday.

This was eight days after Haaland – a £51 million signing in May – fluffed a number of gilt-edged opportunities against Liverpool, one of which was effectively an open goal.

The big man took a bit of stick on social media but, as he proved in East London, he remains a devastating goalscorer and one who should worry Jurgen Klopp and his team.

Well, that’s according to Garth Crooks, who told BBC Sport that such a physical speciment with so much speed in attack is ‘scary’.

He said: “Watching De Bruyne and Gundogan supplying quality service for Haaland to do what he does best must be a cause for concern for rivals like Liverpool. I did sit up and take notice of the electric turn of pace a man of Haaland’s size could generate. That was scary.”

Klopp’s side are already two points behind City after drawing away to newly-promoted Fulham on Saturday.

Of course, it’s far too early to make any concrete predictions one way or the other, but you don’t want to let Pep Guardiola’s side establish a gap over you at any stage of the season.

Despite losing Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, the addition of Haaland is indeed quite a terrifying one if you’re Liverpool because based on his performance for West Ham, he could cause havoc this season, as expected.