Former Manchester City winger tips Erling Haaland to win the 2023 Gerd Muller trophy

Shaun Wright-Phillips has backed Erling Braut Haaland to secure the 2023 edition of the Gerd Muller trophy at the next Ballon d’Or award ceremony.

Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski was voted the best striker of 2022 last night off the back of an impressive 2021/22 campaign which saw him net 50 times in 46 games.

However, ex-Manchester City man Wright-Phillips fancies Haaland to end Lewandowski’s current two-year monopoly of the accolade and get his hands on the prize next time around.

“Next few years? Wright-Phillips told City’s official website earlier today. “I’m talking next year,”

“There is nobody doing what he is doing in the Champions League. Obviously he has to be mindful of Lewandowski and [Kylian] Mbappe but at his age, they still haven’t put up the kind of numbers he has.

“He has got 28 goals in 22 Champions League games, and he is only 22!

“For me, those are not normal numbers – the two people that have won the Ballon d’Or consistently in recent years (Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) didn’t do that at his age.

“If he continues to score goals like he has done, he will win that easily.

“The numbers that he is putting up per game – if you look at the games over his career, he has always scored more than he has played games.”

Since moving to the blue half of Manchester from Borrusia Dortmund last summer, Haaland has flown out of the blocks with 20 goals in his 14 appearances across all competitions.

However, Pep Guardiola’s men are trailing Premier League leaders Arsenal by four points in the table following a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool on Sunday.

Having seen his 10-game scoring streak for City end in the aforementioned match, Haaland will be aiming to secure an immediate return to the scoresheet on Saturday when Brighton & Hove Albion visit the Etihad Stadium.