Erling Haaland given nickname by Man City teammates over likeness to 'House of the Dragon' star

Erling Haaland has been given a hilarious 'House of the Dragon' related nickname by his Manchester City teammates.

The 22-year-old sensation has enjoyed a blistering start to the season, scoring nine goals - including back-to-back hat-tricks against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.

His exploits in front of goal have seen his teammates brand him 'Daemon' thanks to the player's uncanny resemblance to Daemon Targaryen.

The character played by actor Matt Smith in the 'Game of Thrones' spin off prequel series has been likened to Haaland by the likes of John Stones and Phil Foden.

A club insider told The Sun: "A few of the players are huge fans of House of Dragon and they have mentioned to Erling how much he looks like Daemon.

"He loves a joke and thinks it’s funny. Daemon is unpredictable and so is Erling so their personality’s fit as well."

Haaland will look to continue his extraordinary goal-scoring prowess when Man City resume their Premier League campaign at Aston Villa.

Pep Guardiola hailed the Norwegian superstar following his heroics against Forest in midweek and claimed the forward could go down as an all-time Man City great.

"Sergio is the legend. Nobody can break the position in the hearts of City fans, scoring the most important goal in the modern history," said the Blues boss.

"Erling has the quality to be there. It's not about him or Sergio. What Sergio has done is amazing. But Erling has this talent.

"When City bought Erling, everybody talked about what he has done in the past. What we wanted to do is help him.

"Hopefully he can enjoy and score more goals.

"What he has done in Norway, Austria and Germany he tries to do here. He's talented, we knew it."