As Manchester City's season went from bad to worse, the c word started to be mentioned.

Whispered at first but growing louder with every setback until the question found its way to a Pep Guardiola press conference: just what were the captains doing to stop the slump? With Kevin De Bruyne missing injured for two months, Rodri out for the season and Kyle Walker vacating his post whenever he played, it felt like there was a void of leaders.

Walker is about to leave but as the Blues enter a critical stage of their season the situation looks healthier. De Bruyne is getting back to his best with the armband around his shoulder, Rodri has shown his support by travelling with the team to Paris and Ruben Dias made an instant impact on the defence when he returned at Brentford last week.

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Then there are the new leaders. Vitor Reis has only just joined the club but is already talking about how comfortable he is as a captain, Phil Foden is stepping up again and Erling Haaland is also making a case to lead the team in the future.

Haaland has never been afraid to speak his mind in the dressing room and can show his frustrations, but when heads were down after the Brentford draw it was the No.9 who went round his teammates ensuring they picked their heads up and went again. In a cool and charismatic ten minutes with reporters ahead of the Paris Saint-Germain game, Haaland spoke like fans would want their captain to on every topic from ignoring the chance to play for Real Madrid to the serious Premier League charges that the club are waiting for a verdict on.

The Norwegian has led the team before so it is not exactly a new thing, but it is fair to say that he is looking and sounding more and more like somebody who could be a permanent captain. Having spurned the chance to play for any other club - and let's be honest, they'd all take him - to sign a mammoth deal until 2034, Haaland has shouted from the rooftops that he is a Blue through and through.

City are looking to build the next winning machine that can continue the golden era that players like De Bruyne and Walker have built. Having secured Haaland to be part of that, he could be one of the players to lead it.