Erling Haaland hitting Messi & Ronaldo numbers in record-breaking season at Manchester City
The Norwegian is making history at 22 years old in his first year in English football
Pep Guardiola was in tears. “We cannot replace him,” the Manchester City manager said. “We cannot.” The Catalan was referring to the club’s record goalscorer Sergio Agüero, who had just netted twice in his final appearance for the Sky Blues, a 5-0 win at home to Everton in May 2021. Those words seemed surprising at the time. Now they look ridiculous.
City did not replace Agüero that summer. Guardiola had hoped to bring in Harry Kane and the Tottenham striker was keen on a move, but the champions ultimately pulled out of a transfer as Spurs turned down a number of huge offers for the England captain. So they waited, won the Premier League anyway last season and then turned their attentions to a younger man: Erling Braut Haaland.
Given that most of City’s success has been relatively recent, not many of the world’s top talents have grown up dreaming of a move to the blue half of Manchester, but Haaland’s father played for the club in the early 2000s. So he was already a fan. The opportunity was too good to miss and in June last year, City paid his release clause to complete the transfer from Borussia Dortmund for €60 million (£51.2 million).
At the time, it looked like Haaland’s arrival would take City to another level. And although it was suggested early on that the Norwegian made the team worse despite his goals, not many are saying that now as Guardiola’s side challenge for the treble.
The striker has played a pivotal part in their success this term and has been breaking records along the way. On Wednesday night, the 22-year-old hit his 35th Premier League goal of the season in a 3-0 win at home to West Ham to become the competition’s highest scorer in a single campaign. The previous mark was shared by former England strikers Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, both in 42-game seasons. The Norwegian has now surpassed them in a 38-game campaign – and he has done so with five fixtures remaining.
Every goal seems to bring up a new record now for this generational talent. His previous strike at Fulham saw him reach 50 for the season in all competitions and with 51 from 45 matches and a minimum of eight games left to play, expect more marks to be broken in the weeks ahead.
The numbers are astonishing and all the more so when you consider that he is 22 years old, surely still some way from his peak, and that this is his debut season in English football. Most players new to the league need time to adapt. Not this man.
He is not even playing full matches, either: Haaland scored five against RB Leipzig in the Champions League in March and was substituted after 63 minutes; the Norwegian netted twice versus Burnley in the FA Cup and came off at the same time; he added two more at Southampton in the Premier League and was withdrawn with 21 minutes left; then another two at home to Leicester before being brought off at half-time. It is extraordinary.
Guardiola has insisted that he is managing his striker’s fitness carefully for the run-in and that makes sense. Haaland stands at 195cm (6ft 4in) and his physique makes him prone to muscle injuries. However, there is no way he would have wanted to come off with almost half an hour left in the Champions League when no player has ever scored six in a game in Europe’s premier club competition.
At the time, many on social media joked – and others genuinely seemed to believe – that Guardiola had taken off Haaland in order to preserve a record which belongs in part to his former player Lionel Messi. That was obviously not the case and the Catalan even sarcastically claimed in the next match that he had withdrawn the Norwegian in order for him not to break the Argentine’s FA Cup record. Leo, of course, has never played in the FA Cup.
In any case, it is not surprising that the Manchester City striker is being mentioned alongside Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Norwegian’s numbers are already similar to those two greats during their time in Spain. The 22-year-old could yet beat – or come close to – the Portuguese’s best return in a season (61 at Real Madrid in 2014-15) and although the Argentine’s tally of 73 at Barcelona in 2011-12 seems out of reach for now, Haaland should continue to get better as he approaches his peak. And he will want to save some records for the coming seasons, too.