Shaun Goater has no doubt that he would have helped himself to a feast of goals had he played for Manuel Pellegrini’s star-studded Manchester City.

Goater believes he would have fitted in perfectly alongside the likes of Sergio Agüero, David Silva and Fernandinho and weighed in with his fair share of goals for the Barclays Premier League champions.

“I think I would have done well, easily,” said Goater in an video interview with the Guardian newspaper.

“I’m not an arrogant person but I say that because as a forward in this City team you know you will get chances.”

The 44-year-old, who provides analysis for BBC Radio Manchester during City’s games at the Etihad Stadium, said his best spell at the club came when Eyal Berkovic and Ali Benarbia were pulling the strings in midfield.

“I was sleeping like a baby when we had Ali Benarbia and Eyal Berkovic,” said Goater, who scored 103 goals in 212 appearances for City. “I always knew I would get chances.”

The former Bristol City striker said that his love for football came from his mother Lynette, who he used to watch play in the local women’s league as a youngster.

He said that she was his biggest critic when he was plundering goals for Victor Scott Primary School.

“My mom was huge into football,” he said. “I used to watch her play and that’s where my love of the game came from.

“When I was nine or ten I remember playing for my school team and scoring a few of goals. I’d go home and tell her that I’d scored four goals and she’d always say, ‘well, you should have scored seven’.”