Former Italy international Antonio Cassano sees similarities between Erling Haaland, Christian Vieri and Adriano but believes he is not the best striker Pep Guardiola has.
The Norway international has already left his mark at the Etihad Stadium, scoring 10 goals in the opening six Premier League appearances, and Cassano compared the 22-year-old to former Inter stars Vieri and Adriano.
“He is special, I see a bit of Inter’s Adriano and has the progression of Vieri,” the ex-Roma and Real Madrid star told Bobo TV on Twitch, the show hosted weekly by Vieri himself.
“Haaland is very strong, he is a sort of Romelu Lukaku, but much stronger even if I think Julian Alvarez is better because he has more quality.”
The Argentinean starlet joined City from River Plate in the summer and has scored two goals in his first four Premier League games.
He had been in talks with several Serie A clubs including Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina a year ago before signing with the Premier League champions in January. He remained on loan in Argentina until the summer.
Adriano, a former Brazil international, is one of Serie A’s most iconic strikers and scored 74 goals in 177 appearances with the Nerazzurri.
Overall, he scored 77 goals in 180 Serie A appearances with Inter, Fiorentina and Parma.
Vieri was probably Italy’s best centre forward between the ’90s and the 2000s. He scored 142 goals in 264 Serie A games adding 23 in 49 matches with the Azzurri.
He played for Torino, Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Inter, Milan and Fiorentina in Italy’s top flight.