The debate has been raging ever since the Norwegian star burst onto the scene with Borussia Dortmund and hasn’t stopped since his move to Manchester City. With an impressive tally of Premier League goals this season, Haaland is definitely among the top strikers in Europe, but how does he compare to some of the other world-class players out there?
There is no doubt that Haaland is attracting all the attention particularly as he has just broken the Premier League record for most goals in a season (35 and counting). Some negative voices are saying, well he takes penalties as well and with those 7 taken out he would be on 28 for the season. Andy Cole, the iconic Man Utd striker of yesteryear actually scored 30 in one season without penalties.
I think he will still get the 3 he needs to get to 31 and beat that record anyway but even so, 35 in 31 is a monstrous record for any striker. Only Ronaldo, Messi and Lewandowski in recent memory have that sort of record. The man is an animal!
Erling Haaland also has 7 assists, and his all-round game, holding the ball up, dropping deep to join in then bursting in behind to scare defenders has improved in recent weeks. This is no doubt been instilled and worked on by the genius manager Pep Guardiola, who continues to innovate and evolve his teams to be ruthless and a winning machine.
Having a player like Kevin De Bruyne feeding him the ball definitely helps though, although he has taken a rest for the treble run-in and Haaland’s goals are still free-flowing. This is a testament to both Haaland’s quality and hunger for goals as well as City’s laughable riches and seemingly endless squad depth.
I think the measure of a great player and great striker is how they do it over multiple seasons and the trophies they end up winning and the effect they have on winning them. This season Manchester City is on for a treble, the same treble that their bitter city rivals Manchester United achieved in 1999.
I’m old enough to remember that too, with one of the greatest comebacks of all time in the final against a fantastic Bayern Munich side. If Haaland and his Man City teammates lift all 3 I think we are already in the realm of saying that Haaland is the best striker in the league and I think the world.
There is a saying in sport, overused and somewhat cliche though that “form is temporary, but class is permanent”. Haaland for such a young man has already been putting up these sorts of numbers for 4-5 years in top domestic leagues, he is annihilating international teams now too with Norway.
At the time of writing he has 21 goals in 23 games for them which is madness. This is without De Bruyne, Foden, Grealish, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva etc however Norway do have Martin Odegaard, who has been tremendous for Arsenal and is crucial to Norway.
On the scene at the moment we can only really point to a couple of competitors to the tag “best striker in the world” and that is Harry Kane and Karim Benzema. Benzema is underrated in my opinion or rather was until last years deserved Balon D’or win.
The man has scored over 27 goals in each of the last 5 seasons. He has won 5 Champions Leagues, 8 league titles, a hatful of cups and FIFA world club cups, the only thing he’s missing is a World cup winner’s medal. He should have been there in 2018 but he had an ongoing case with the French Federation in 2018.
Then there is Harry Kane, trophies ZERO, however, if he stays at Tottenham or in the Premier League he will break Alan Shearer’s all-time record of 260 goals in 2 seasons time. He guarantees you 20 goals a season, his all-round play and passing range is unreal but perhaps he just doesn’t get the recognition he deserves because he plays for Spurs.
Let’s not forget he is already England’s all-time top scorer, and that will stay for many years, no one is coming through the ranks to challenge that. I just feel Kane doesn’t have the same dynamism or electricity Haaland has, he doesn’t send the fear of god down defenders backs.
For me, Benzema is currently the best striker in the world, but if Haaland wins the treble, or even the league and Champions League, and maintains this same rate of goals for 2 seasons he will prove to me that he can do it in the hardest league in the world, can affect big games and provide the city with the Ultimate trophy they have been chasing ever since the middle eastern money flooded into the club.
