Erling Haaland has suggested that Arsenal rival and international teammate Martin Odegaard could have been named Football Writers' Footballer of the Year.
The Manchester City striker scooped the annual Football Writers’ Association award on Thursday evening following a stunning campaign. He has scored an eye-watering 52 goals during his debut campaign in England following a move from Borussia Dortmund - 36 of those coming in the Premier League.
The goalscoring form has Pep Guardiola ’s side on the precipice of an historic treble. The Premier League title has already been secured, whilst City also have places in both the Champions League and FA Cup final.
After scooping his latest gong, Haaland was asked who would be worthy of the award away from himself and he plumped for an international teammate, as well as one of his potentially under-appreciated City colleagues.
Speaking to William Hill, he said: “If I had to pick another player to have won Player of the Year, I would say my Norwegian friend, [Martin] Odegaard has had a really good season.
“There are also other teammates that could have easily won it because there’s a lot of players in the Manchester City team that have been outstanding this season. If you watch all of our games, you will see that Rodri has just been so solid throughout the whole season.
“I think sometimes he is a bit hidden because he is in midfield and he’s the one pulling everything together. I don’t want to say too many names, but maybe it could have been one of them.”
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Odegaard has enjoyed a sensational season after helping Arsenal to what was an unexpected title challenge. The former Real Madrid playmaker has 15 goals and eight assists to his name in the Premier League this term.
Haaland and Odegaard have been friends for some time, with the latter confirming that the pair had talked briefly about the striker joining him when he was at Spanish giants Real Madrid.
As quoted by the Daily Star, the Arsenal star said: "Erling and I are good friends, so we talk about lots of things."
He added: "I was there [at Real Madrid], so yeah, we talked about it but it’s not anything special.”
Both players are up against each other for another major award ahead of the final Premier League fixtures of the campaign. Haaland has been nominated for the league’s Player of the Season award and has been joined by Man City teammate Kevin De Bruyne.
Odegaard has also been nominated, alongside Arsenal colleague Bukayo Saka. Both Norwegian stars are also in the running for the Premier League Young Player of the Season award.
