Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland
Kevin de Bruyne's hat-trick was completed within 24 minutes - the third earliest one has been scored from the start of a match in Premier League history

Kevin de Bruyne chose an even better way of welcoming Erling Haaland to Manchester City than giant billboards.

After scoring the third goal of his four-goal haul against Wolves on Wednesday night, the Belgian mimicked Haaland's famous meditation celebration.

It was quite a statement. Just a day after City agreed to sign a prolific Norway forward from Borussia Dortmund, they looked like they had a lot of attacking power at Wolves.

Wolves did not play badly, yet with De Bruyne at the center of the storm they were blown away as City won 5-1 and moved to within four points of a fourth title in five seasons.

Everyone inside the stadium and beyond was left wondering how good they will be once Haaland is on board.

It appears they don't need him at the moment, especially with De Bruyne in goal scoring form.

Since joining City in 2015, the 30-year-old has been better known for demonstrating his exceptional creative powers, but it appears he has been listening to his manager and trying to find the net more himself.

He was so willing to shoot, all of his first three goals came with his weaker left foot as he completed his first City hat-trick inside 24 minutes.

He followed after the break with his right foot. His manager was impressed by the solo display which meant that De Bruyne has 19 goals in all competition this season.

The verdict was "unstoppable, brilliant, awesome, outstanding, perfect" by the man. He was telling the truth.

Kevin had the ability to create special things.

We always push him to say he is an incredible player, generous with assists, but he has to score goals and this season is the most prolific he has had since we were together.

We spoke to him about running into the box and being closer to the box and this season he has done it better and better.

I am very pleased for him because he scored four goals in the decisive part of the league, which is so important.

Hopefully it will continue, not just this season but for the rest of his career - I have a feeling that he has started to enjoy scoring goals.

Before it was just assists, but now I think he likes it because his team-mates come to hug him.

Team effort the key for De Bruyne

When De Bruyne was asked about his work, he was already thinking of the next test, away at West Ham on Sunday.

He said it was a great start and he was happy with the team.

We alternated well. We went into the space when Phil Foden was there. The dynamic of the game changed when we scored in the first half.

We have to play the game whenever we play. We will have to do that against West Ham.

West Ham have had a great season. It is their last home game of the season and we know it will be a tough one. It is going to be hard because we don't have a lot of players.

Tweet: Kevin de Bruyne has just scored a 24 minute hat trick to get is on track for our 4th title in 5 years and finished it off with an incoming Erling Haaland's celebrationTweet: The thought of Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland on the same team next year is a scary thoughtTweet: If I ever saw Haaland and de Bruyne running at me, I would just clear the way fo them

City have more problems at the back

He gave a welcome to Haaland and said he was very pleased with his choice.

The club has signed a player for the next years because he is a young player.

We are going to work together next season. We are going to help him settle in Manchester as soon as possible, and I am pretty sure he will adapt quickly to the way we want to be.

He has scored a lot of goals in his career and we are going to help him get more.

The arrival of Haaland will give him a formidable forward line, but his issues as they try to get over the line this season appear to be at the other end of the pitch.

Injuries to Ruben Dias, John Stones and Kyle Walker on top of Nathan Ake's lack of fitness had already left them short of defenders but they saw two more, Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho, limp off on Wednesday.

Fernandinho was already filling in for Laporte at centre-back because of a lack of numbers.

There are some muscular problems for Fernandinho, which could make it difficult for Sunday, while Aymeric had a tough knock on his knee.

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