Goals, hat-tricks, assists - you name it - Erling Haaland's numbers are going north at an extraordinary rate at the start of what promises to be an unparalleled career with Manchester City.

Just about the only figure that won't change is the £51million City agreed to pay Borussia Dortmund to sign the prolific Norway striker in the summer.

Triggering Haaland's buyout clause at Dortmund represented incredibly good business for City, which looks even better after his contribution to Sunday's demolition derby at the Etihad.

Erling Haaland netted a hat trick against Manchester United in the derby game on Sunday

There was a time when Manchester United thought they had Haaland signed and sealed. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told staff at United that he thought a deal was in the bag after flying to Austria in December 2019 to speak to Haaland, his former Molde striker who was then at Red Bull Salzburg.

It's understood that, unlike Dortmund, United were unwilling to accept the sell-on clauses being demanded by the player's agent Mino Raiola and he moved to Germany instead.

Three years on, and United never even entered Haaland's thoughts when he was weighing up his next club earlier this year, according to a new documentary Haaland: The Big Decision.

The 22-year-old and his father Alfie used a points system to deicide their best option, and City came top out of seven clubs. United weren't one of them.

It appears to be a similar situation with Jude Bellingham, a rising star of English football.

Solskjaer brought in Sir Alex Ferguson to wow Bellingham when the young Birmingham midfielder and his parents visited Carrington in March 2020, but it made no difference. Bellingham moved to Dortmund as well, and is more likely to join Liverpool than United next summer.

It has been clear for some time that United no longer wield the same pulling power in football, and that much was brutally exposed in their shattering 6-3 defeat at the Etihad.

Despite a club record £220m spend in the transfer window, United's rebuild under Erik ten Hag suffered a savage reality check at the hands of Pep Guardiola's side.

It's not that United recruited badly in the summer. Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia and Antony have all improved the team - not that you would have known it on Sunday.

It's just that United have 'f***ing burned through cash', to quote their chief executive Richard Arnold, in the pursuit of their neighbours and still have a long way to go.

City look like the model club right now. Each summer they tweak a winning team with players like Haaland to stay ahead of the curve, just like United used to do under Ferguson.

United, on the other hand, look more like City in the period after the Abu Dhabi takeover, gambling big money to get among football's high rollers.

They now have three ex-Real Madrid stars on the books in Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Casemiro. They have 14 Champions League titles between them but also 96 years, and cost United a combined total of £125m before wages.

Ronaldo didn't make it off the bench at the Etihad, Casemiro came on for the final half an hour but has yet to make his presence felt, while Varane limped off before the interval after a torrid first half with an ankle injury which isn't thought to be serious.

Ten Hag signed Martinez and Antony from his old club Ajax believing they can make a difference, and they probably will, but both came at maximum price.. Antony cost £82m and Martinez was more expensive than Haaland at £55.3m.

It has pushed the club's spending to well over £1billion since Ferguson retired as United try to re-establish themselves as the best team in England.. Sunday was a painful reminder that they are still a long way short of being the best team in Manchester.