Amyeric Laporte has joked that he's signed more balls for hat-trick hero Erling Haaland than he has signed contracts.
Haaland made history as the first Premier League player to get a matchball in three consecutive home games, after netting half of Man City's derby day tally against Man United.
It followed on from his trio of goals against Crystal Palace, and then Nottingham Forest, at the Etihad Stadium at the end of August.
And 28-year-old Laporte, who has been at the club since 2018, noted the arrival of the Norwegian had also increased the number of mementoes that needed signing.
Above his signature on Haaland's hat-trick ball from the United game, Laporte wrote: 'I have signed more balls for your hat-tricks than contracts.'
The message was clearly shown in images with Erling next to his father, Alfie Haaland, who also spent three years at Manchester City in the early 2000s.
Erling Haaland also posted a picture of Twitter of him next to Phil Foden - who also scored a hat-trick against Manchester United.
Laporte retweeted the image, attaching the comment: 'This is going to cost a lot of money in foot balls lol'.
Whilst holding onto the matchball after scoring a hat-trick is not an official part of the rules, it is a long held tradition in football, and one which has been embraced by City's super strikers.
In 2019, Haaland made a bizarre claim to Dagbladet that he slept with balls after a handful of hat-tricks for Red Bull Salzburg.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com