Force of Nature from Norway: How Erling Haaland Will Change the World of Football

Erling Braut Haaland, the Norwegian striker that recently signed with reigning PL champions Manchester City, has already established a reputation for destroying defenders and smashing in goals. Many have claimed that he is the next Ronaldo to rival Kylian Mbappe’s Messi. 

In his first month at the club, Haaland has scored a whopping fourteen Premier League goals, as well as five UEFA Champions League goals, in a total of eleven matches across both tournaments. He has already shattered the record for the most goals by a player in their first ten PL matches, previously held by Micky Quinn, Diego Costa and Papiss Cisse, having ten each. Haaland scored 14 in just eight games. 

He has become the first ever player to score three hat-tricks back to back, against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and rivals Manchester United. Not only this, but he has Champions League records to his name as well, between this season and last season, which he spent with German club Borussia Dortmund. He holds the record for the most goals scored in the first 30 games, with 28 goals. He’s only played in 22 matches. He is the youngest player to score 25 Champions League goals, breaking the record held by Kylian Mbappe and previously Lionel Messi. 

So how many more records can he break? If he keeps going at his current rate, he is projected to break Tommy Johnson’s City record for most goals scored by a single player in a season, Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for most Champions League goals in a single season, as well as Luis Suarez’s record for most goals scored in a single calendar month by a Premier League player. Along with these, he is on his way to breaking an additional eight records over the next few seasons across club and international game formats.

It’s clear that Haaland will inscribe his name in the record and history books forever. We have seen that he can fill the shoes left by club legend Sergio Agüero. However, we have yet to see whether he is up to the task of living up to the names of Messi and Ronaldo that he has been compared with.