Journalist Sam Lee has claimed that a new striker is a “must” for Manchester City and thinks Erling Haaland should be their target.

The Citizens continued their rampant run of form on Tuesday evening, as they managed to record a 2-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach to secure a quarter-final place in the Champions League.

Kevin de Bruyne opened the scoring after 12 minutes, as the Belgian unleashed a thunderous strike from distance with his weaker foot to provide City with the lead.

Six minutes later, Ilkay Gundogan scored his 15th goal of the season, as he poked the ball past Yann Sommer to round off a 4-0 aggregate triumph.

On Tuesday night, Pep Guardiola opted for a formation with a false nine striker, while a fit Sergio Aguero could only make an impact from the bench against the German side. 

Although Guardiola’s squad have enjoyed success using this new formation, The Athletic’s City correspondent Lee believes that a new striker needs to be the club’s next purchase - and even namedropped Dortmund's Erling Haaland.

“A proper No.9 is a must I think. Just because the team is doing well without one doesn’t mean they couldn’t be better with one,” Lee told The Athletic’s discussion page.

“Imagine this team with Haaland on the end of the chances. Brutal.”

GIVEMESPORT’s Tom Kelly says…

This season, Manchester City have asserted their dominance, as they sit 14 points clear in the Premier League. However, one minor criticism of Guardiola’s side is that they heavily rely on the midfield for goals.

Gundogan is currently the club’s leading goal-scorer, while Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez are in joint-second with nine goals this term.

Through various injuries, City’s go-to forward Aguero has missed 17 games this season. Therefore, the club have had to rely on a mixture of midfielders playing in a false nine role, or Gabriel Jesus leading the line. The latter has scored seven goals this season.

Although City have won plenty of games without an out-and-out striker, I agree with Lee’s assessment that they would be undeniably better with a lethal finisher in their ranks.

The journalist identified Haaland as a possible addition and the 20-year-old has been scoring goals for fun in the Bundesliga. So far this season, the Norwegian - who Transfermarkt value at £99m - has scored 35 goals in 34 games for Borussia Dortmund.

Therefore, a player with Haaland’s natural instinctive finishing could make City truly unstoppable.