The looming threat of Sergio Aguero's departure may force Manchester City into the transfer market in search of a new centre-forward. 

Aguero contract is due to expire in June 2021 and it remains to be seen if he'll extend his stay into the 2021/22 season.

While one would expect the Citizens to be working towards a new deal for the club's record goal scorer, Txiki Begiristain and the rest of the club's decision makers will certainly be forming a contingency plan in the event that Aguero departs. 

After all, the club will need to recruit a replacement for the 32-year-old eventually as they prepare for a future without the last stragglers of the old guard - chiefly Aguero and Fernandinho. 

City will need a potent talisman of world-class quality to fill the Argentine's void, and one man who fits that profile on current form is Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland. 

According to a recent report from The Sun, the four-time Premier League winners are battling with local rivals Manchester united for his signature, but City believe a clause inserted in the deal that took Jadon Sancho to Dortmund could give them the upper hand in negotiations. 

Indeed, City hope to move ahead of their transfer rivals by offering to waver or re-negotiate the 15% sell-on clause included in the Sancho deal. 

Those who have taken a brief glance at Haaland's record will be enticed by his remarkable strike-rate this season, which has seen seen him notch 18 goals in 14 Bundesliga and Champions League outings.

But it's not only his dead-eyed ability to convert chances that makes him such an insatiable talent. 

The Norway international is also an excellent all-round footballer, blessed with a turn of pace sufficient to unnerve some of the most able defenders in world football. 

The speed of his ascent to become one of the planet's most coveted talents suggests he has what it takes to join the likes of Kylian Mbappe at the summit of the game in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi era.

It'll take raw dedication for Haaland to maintain his current level of form, but a recent insight from Norwegian journalist Lars Sivertsen suggests that the £90m-rated sensation has the right mentality to maintain his place among the global elite, per talkSPORT.

"He is someone who is absolutely obsessed with improving as a footballer and getting marginal gains. 

"He's big on meditation and big on things he can to improve the quality of his sleep.

"He's at the age of 20 now but he's going to keep improving."

And Sivertsen, who is a regular guest on The Guardian Football Weekly podcast, went on to suggest that it's actually Haaland's hold-up play that needs to improve despite his towering physique.

"He's actually not a very good target man.

"If you track his runs and see how he runs on the field, he moves more like Jamie Vardy than a big target man really, which is quite strange."

Given Pep Guardiola's style is not one that naturally accommodates a target man, Sivertsen's comparison with the Leicester City legend suggests that City's head transfer honchos have an ideal Aguero successor in their crosshair. 

Whether they can fend off competition from the rest of Europe's elite clubs, though, remains to be seen.