Erling Haaland could reach 40 goals in a record-breaking debut campaign with Manchester City, according to former Liverpool and England striker Emile Heskey.
Haaland has hit the ground running since joining the Premier League champions from Borussia Dortmund, scoring 14 goals in his first 10 games for Pep Guardiola's men in all competitions.
That tally includes 11 goals in seven Premier League appearances, and the Norwegian was named the competition's Player of the Month after scoring nine goals in five outings in August – the best return managed by any player in their first five games in the competition.
The striker's rich vein of form suggests he could trouble the record for most goals in a single Premier League season, which is jointly held by Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer (34 goals in 1993-94 and 1994-95 respectively).
Heskey has now backed Haaland to enjoy a historic campaign off the back of his fine start, telling Stats Perform: "I think he will break the records.
"I think he's at the right club to break the records, and I think he's fantastic because he's adapted very, very well.
"He's adapted to being the main player in a team like Dortmund; probably linking up play, getting him behind, being that main person to get on the board… to now really not having too many touches because he doesn't need to.
"I know we talked about how he hasn't been involved in this, he doesn't need to. I think Pep is very specific with the jobs of the players.
"When I look at Pep's teams, I see them change the personnel, but the actual delivery is exactly the same. So he's very clever to actually to fit into that role and still score goals.
"He's very, very intelligent. He's showing his intelligence because then he'll go away with the national team and it'll be totally different, but he'll still be scoring goals.
"I think he'll break every record to be honest with you, he could easily score 40 this season."
Haaland has scored a hat-trick on each of his last two home Premier League appearances (against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest).
Should the Norwegian repeat those heroics in Sunday's clash with rivals Manchester United, he will become the first player to score hat-tricks in three consecutive home matches in the competition's history.
The last player to score as many as three home hat-tricks in a single Premier League campaign, meanwhile, was City legend Sergio Aguero in the 2018-19 season
Sessegnon rejoins boyhood club Fulham after Tottenham departure
Ryan Sessegnon has resigned for Fulham on a free transfer, five years after leaving the club.
The 24-year-old signed a two-year contract with the Cottagers with the option to extend for a further year following his departure from Tottenham last month.
In his first spell at the club, Sessegnon worked his way through the academy over 11 years, scoring 25 goals in 120 first-team appearances.
He then moved to Spurs in a £25million deal in 2019, though struggled to nail down a place in North London, making just 57 appearances in all competitions, and scoring three goals.
"It's amazing to be back. Emotional, as well," he told FFCtv. "It's where it started for me, where everything began, and it's amazing to be back.
"It will always be home for me. I think it had the feeling that it was meant to be, coming back here, so I'm delighted to get it done."
Sessegnon is Fulham's first signing of the transfer window, though they have seen plenty of first-team departures already, with Joao Palhinha, Tosin Adarabioyo and Bobby De Cordova-Reid all leaving the club.
Ederson slams reports of rift with Man City backup Ortega
Ederson has hit out at reports of a rift between himself and fellow Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
The Brazilian was substituted after suffering a fractured eye socket in City's penultimate game of the Premier League season, a vital 1-0 win over Tottenham.
Ortega replaced him and made a brilliant save to deny Son Heung-min as City maintained their slender lead over Arsenal at the top of the table, sealing an unprecedented fourth straight title by beating West Ham five days later.
Ortega was widely lauded for his role in that triumph, and an article published by The Athletic this week suggested Ederson took issue with that praise.
However, the goalkeeper – who missed the Copa America as a result of his injury – has now moved to shut down those suggestions with a post to his Instagram story.
"I would like to clarify that the note published by The Athletic yesterday, referring to my alleged dissatisfaction with a co-worker, is completely false," he wrote.
"The alleged day reported was, without a doubt, one of the most difficult days of my career, when I suffered a fracture that prevented me from playing in the final stretch of the season and, consequently, from representing my country in the Copa America.
"At the time of the injury, my only thought was to continue in the match, defending City in the fight for the title.
"But the emotion of the match would be greater than the reality and, inevitably, I would not be able to continue as I would have liked due to the damage it caused, completely blocking my field of vision. I remain focused on preparing for the season."
Ederson has been linked with a transfer in recent days, reportedly attracting interest from Saudi Pro League clubs.
McAllister cannot see Klopp or Guardiola succeeding Southgate
Gary McAllister finds it hard to believe that either Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola will succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager.
Southgate, who led England to back-to-back European Championship finals, ended his eight-year tenure following their defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 showpiece.
The 53-year-old was often accused of a cautious approach despite only Walter Winterbottom (383) and Alf Ramsey (224) overseeing more England goals than his 213, with supporters wanting to see a more attack-minded manager take over.
And two of the names linked with the vacant position have been pioneers of Premier League football in recent years.
Klopp ended his nine-year stay at Liverpool in May to take a break from management, while some expect Guardiola to leave Manchester City at the end of his current deal, which expires next year.
The pair have won 653 games between them and shared 25 major honours during their time in England and could be seen as the ideal candidates to end the Three Lions' 58-year wait for silverware.
However, former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder McAllister believes Klopp and Guardiola are unlikely to become England's next manager.
McAllister, who played 57 times for his nation, believes supporters would prefer an English manager at the helm.
"I think people are linking Jurgen with the England job purely because he has experience working in the English Premier League," McAllister told Stats Perform.
"He's worked with elite players for many years now at Dortmund and at Liverpool. So people are putting two and two together.
"Personally, I don't see it happening and I think I also see that there were links to Pep Guardiola and I don't see Pep managing England either.
"It's hard for me to comment on this because I'm obviously not English, I'm Scottish.
"The people I speak to within the game, there is a feeling that the manager of England should come from St George's Park, which is the headquarters of English football, the FA and all the coaching programmes that they have there.
"Why would you have all this and then put a manager not from England in? I think most of the people in England are looking for an English manager."
The Three Lions' next game is a Nations League clash with the Republic of Ireland in September, with Finland their next opponents three days later.
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