First season in the EPL went beyond Haaland's expectations.

It can only be Haaland:

• 36 EPL goals.

• 52 goals across all competitions.

• A 29-year-old EPL goalscoring record broken in first season.

• 2023 Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year.

Manchester City goal machine, Erling Haaland, is surprised by the success he has achieved at the Etihad in his debut season.

He said as much as he expected things to go well at City, he didn't expect them to be this good.

He was speaking after receiving his 2023 Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award, which he won with a whopping 80% of the votes.

"I didn’t expect it to be this good!" Haaland told amp.mancity.com.

“I expected it to be good of course.

"To come into a team that’s been scoring many goals while winning the Premier League a lot of times – two in a row now three, I expected to do good things but to do this I didn’t quite expect.

"It’s been a fantastic season so far and I’m happy.

"I like it [in Manchester] I’m enjoying it on and off the pitch, I’m enjoying my life.

"The vibe is fantastic. I really enjoy myself. I have a lot of friends.

"We joke a lot, we enjoy it a lot in the locker room and on the pitch. I am really enjoying it and there’s so many good guys in the team."

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The 22-year-old had special praises for his boss, Pep Guardiola.

Haaland said Guardiola's achievement of  five league titles in six years is 'unreal'. And also touched on the amazing stuff he makes them do in training.

"When you win your fifth Premier League in six years it’s unreal.

"He makes things look so easy on the training ground and in the games.

"It’s crazy what he’s doing and what he makes us do and how good we can play. It’s a big honour to have him as my coach. It’s a pleasure.  

"We don’t like to focus on the future or on the past. I like to live in the moment and I like to take it game-by-game, exactly like what he said and that’s we did.

"We focused and we achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve and in the end it was unreal what we did.

"To be behind all season and in the end just come like a unit together was amazing and an amazing feeling."

Man City will play their last English Premier League game of the season on Sunday 28 May against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium. The game will kick-off at 17:30.