“I won’t tell you” – Kolo Toure sends dangerous Erling Haaland warning to Arsenal | OneFootball

Manchester City assistant coach Kolo Toure has extolled the virtues of Erling Haaland ahead of Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace.

City are in a rich vein of form courtesy of four straight wins in all competitions ahead of the trip to south London, coming from behind to claim a monumental 2-1 win away at Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in the UEFA Champions League in midweek.

The Blues took full advantage of Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa last week as goals from Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden helped Pep Guardiola and co cut the gap to the Gunners to just two points.

Within touching distance of UEFA Champions League Round of 16 qualification, Manchester City are showing evidence that they have what it takes to sustain a Premier League title challenge despite being at a nascent stage of their transition under sporting director Hugo Viana.

Spearheading this title challenge and being at the forefront of Manchester City’s turn in fortunes after a lousy start to the 2025-26 campaign has been Erling Haaland, who has more or less single-handedly carried the goalscoring burden for Guardiola so far this term.

The 25-year-old scored the winner in Madrid on Wednesday night after winning a penalty and converting from 12 yards against familiar foe Thibaut Courtois, further solidifying his importance to Manchester City and their aspirations for silverware this season.

Speaking in a press conference on Friday afternoon, Manchester City assistant Kolo Toure was asked whether he has seen anyone like Haaland during his time in England.

“I would say like he (Haaland) is right among the top, you know, like the Thierry Henrys, the Alan Shearers. And what I really like with Erling is he’s a humble guy. He’s an incredible, incredible person,” Toure, who was on media duties in the absence of Guardiola, said.

“And, you know, he (Haaland) still has a big room for improvement as well. And he’s open to listening to advice, you know, and he’s so humble. And for what he has achieved already, he scares me.

“I have to be honest because, you know, when you have a top player like that, you know, normally, you know, the head can grow very big, very quickly. But for Erling, he’s down to earth, you know. And this is incredible, this is incredible. And I think the future will be even better in my opinion because he’s such a top player, but a top human as well.”

Toure was further quizzed on how he would have attempted to defend Haaland back in his own playing days. “I won’t tell you, for sure. I won’t tell you, but I know like I always say to him every… I had that feeling, you know, every time I had to play against a top striker, it was always hard to sleep at night,” the former Arsenal and Manchester City defender added.

“And I say to Erling, every time we play a team, I say, ‘Erling, you know, a lot of them not sleeping at the moment’, you know, because it’s always hard to play against a top striker.”

Keeping Haaland fit and firing as the season progresses is the single most important task on the hands of Guardiola and his coaching staff, for no other forward in Manchester City’s ranks can match the high-flying Norwegian’s heroics in front of goal.