Erling Haaland’s opener against Arsenal on Sunday saw him reach a major Manchester City landmark, getting there far quicker than even Sergio Agüero.
For Erling Haaland, the records, accolades and landmarks just keep coming, with his latest milestone arriving in Manchester City’s blockbuster Premier League clash with Arsenal on Sunday.
The 24-year-old striker raced onto a pass from Savinho to finish past David Raya in just the ninth minute at the Etihad Stadium, taking him to 100 goals across all competitions for Man City. The game finished 2-2 thanks to John Stones’ late equaliser, but Haaland will at least be pleased with his own achievement.
What makes this feat especially remarkable is how quickly he’s managed to reach his century at City – after all, he only joined them from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, and Sunday’s game was just his 105th appearance for the club.
Haaland was already revered for his goalscoring abilities before moving to City, having boasted sensational records at Red Bull Salzburg and Dortmund beforehand. For the Austrian side, he scored 29 times in 28 official games, while in Germany he tallied 86 in 89.
Expectations were of course sky high when Haaland signed for City, both because of his previous form and the fact he was joining possibly the most-feared team on the planet; surely their combination was going to be fruitful?
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say he’s even surpassed those expectations, so deadly has he been in front of goal.
His 36 Premier League goals in his first season broke the record for the most scored by a player in a single campaign since the competition’s 1992 creation. He also netted 12 in 11 Champions League games, helping City to their maiden European title and a historic treble.
Across all competitions that season, Haaland scored 52 times in 53 matches.
In 2023-24, Haaland’s goals return reduced slightly, ‘only’ scoring 27 in the league and 38 on all fronts. Nevertheless, his haul in the Premier League had him scoring a goal just under every 95 minutes; of all players to score at least 10 times in a season, he was still ranked as high as 11th all time with that frequency.
And, as was the case with the season before, Haaland’s goals were crucial in City’s Premier League title success as they held off the Gunners to become the first men’s side ever to win the English top-flight title four years in a row.
However, while scarcely believable, it feels like the 2024-25 iteration of Haaland could be the best and most ruthless yet.
Granted, he fired his first blank of the season in Wednesday’s goalless Champions League draw with Inter, but domestically he’s started the campaign in deadly fashion.
Haaland’s nine goals across the first four matchdays was a Premier League record, and he was pretty close to becoming the first male player in English football since 1946 to net three successive hat-tricks, but he could only score twice against Brentford last weekend. He hit the post late on in that game as well, highlighting just how close he was.
Although one historic achievement fell by the wayside on that occasion, in true Haaland fashion, he’s not had to wait much longer to celebrate a different landmark. And when you compare his output to that of a true City great, it really puts into perspective just how remarkable he is – if you still needed convincing.
Sergio Agüero is a bona fide club legend, the scorer of their most famous goal and their all-time record goalscorer having netted 260 times in 390 appearances. Although the Argentinian struggled with fitness issues towards the end of his City stay, he’d been one of the deadliest forwards in Premier League history, with only Alan Shearer (260), Harry Kane (213), Wayne Rooney (208) and Andrew Cole (187) scoring more in the competition than him (184).
But, it took him 158 games across all competitions to reach 100 goals for City, 53 more than it’s taken Haaland. Similarly, Agüero netted 63 times through his first 105 appearances for the club, 37 fewer than the Norwegian goalscoring machine.
As such, Haaland’s obviously on track to absolutely obliterate Agüero’s all-time goals record for City, but whether he stays at the Etihad Stadium long enough (and keeps himself fit) is another matter.
For the time being, though, Haaland will continue to plunder record after record, and pass milestone after milestone in a City shirt. If he spends most of his career in Manchester, it’s difficult to imagine any goalscoring record being out of his reach, and that includes the big one.
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