Erling Haaland was called “ridiculous” and “sublime” as he obliterated the record for fastest player to score 15 Premier League goals in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Southampton.
Haaland has now scored 20 goals in 13 games for City in all competitions after his finish from Joao Cancelo’s ball to finish the scoring at Etihad Stadium.
In fact ‘just’ scoring once in his ninth English league appearance has knocked his goalscoring rate in the league down from 1.75 to 1.67.
He became just the second City player after Sergio Aguero in 2019 to score in seven consecutive Premier League appearances.
And remarkably the £51m summer signing from Borussia Dortmund has already equalled the tally of their top league scorer in the 2021-22 title-winning season – Kevin de Bruyne.
Before this season Micky Quinn had the most goals in his first nine Premier League appearances with 11. The quickest player to reach 15 Premier League goals was Andy Cole, who needed 15 games to do so.
Those records have been demolished.
Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, said: “It is incredible, we often use phrases like that and it’s hyperbole.
“But it’s not with Erling Haaland. He is quite ridiculous.
“No-one can name anyone that is anything like him. His physicality, his ridiculous pace, eye for goal – it’s extraordinary.”
Ex-City defender Micah Richards added: “His movement and the space he provides is just sublime. Going forward, I don’t think City can improve right now.”
City boss Guardiola told BBC Sport: “He scored a brilliant goal. It’s an incredible weapon for us, a big threat. I am so satisfied.”
Haaland has been directly involved in 42 goals in his last 24 appearances in home games for Dortmund and City (36 goals, six assists).
Riyad Mahrez, who scored one of City’s other goals, said: “Haaland is part of our team, he is our striker. Like any other striker, if we can find him it’s perfect because he is on fire.”
So what other records has Haaland broken this season – and what else could be do before the season is out?
What records has he already broken this season?
The Norway striker took Quinn’s record (11) of most goals in his first nine Premier League games. He also took Quinn’s record (10) after eight games. When he makes his 10th appearance, he will have that record too even if he does not score.
Quinn, Papiss Cisse and Diego Costa had a joint record 11 goals in their first 10 Premier League games.
His 11 goals in his first seven games were a record, as were his nine goals in his first five games. Those nine goals made him the top scorer in August of any Premier League season.
Haaland became the first player to score a hat-trick in three consecutive home games in the Premier League – against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United – although that run is over with his single against Southampton.
He is the first player to score in his first four away games in the Premier League.
Haaland has already demolished pacesetting records in the Champions League and Premier League this season.
His double in 45 minutes against Copenhagen took him on to 28 Champions League goals in 22 games.
Not only is that the record for goals in a player’s first 22 games, it is the landmark for a player’s first 30 Champions League games – beating Ruud van Nistelrooy’s mark with eight games to add to it.
The old record for goals in a player’s first 22 Champions League games was Harry Kane’s 18.
He also broke a few records on his Champions League debut at Sevilla, with a double in a 4-0 win, and more with the late winner against his old side Dortmund.
Haaland became the first player to score multiple times on his Champions League debut for three different clubs – after a hat-trick for Salzburg against Genk and two goals for Dortmund against Paris St-Germain.
That took him to 25 Champions League goals in just 20 games – smashing the old record of Van Nistelrooy and Roberto Soldado, who scored 16 in their first 20 games.
He is the youngest player to score 25 goals in the competition, beating the record of Kylian Mbappe, who in turn took the landmark off Lionel Messi.
Haaland also has the record for fewest Champions League games needed to score 10, 15 and 20 goals. Nobody else has scored multiple goals in four successive appearances in the competition.
He is also the first City player to score on both his Premier League debut and Champions League debut for the club.
Haaland’s previous goalscoring records
He had a similar start to his time in Germany. Haaland is the only player to score on his Dortmund debuts in the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League (as well as scoring in the German Super Cup).
He was the first player to hit a hat-trick on his Bundesliga debut as a substitute (coming on after 56 minutes at Augsburg).
He holds the record for most goals in his first two, three, five and six Bundesliga games games (five, seven, eight and nine goals respectively).
He took 50 games to score his first 50 Bundesliga goals, also a record – and, at 21, was the youngest player to score so many.
Haaland is the youngest player to score four times in a Bundesliga game (20 years and 123 days, against Hertha Berlin).
He barely stuck round long enough at his first three clubs to set many records – barring several Champions League landmarks with Salzburg.
He left Bryne at the age of 16 after no goals in 16 games. At Molde he netted 20 goals in 50 matches and at Salzburg he scored 29 goals – including five hat-tricks – in just 27 games.
International record? Yes, he has one of them too. His nine goals in one game against Honduras in 2019 remains a record for a Fifa Under-20 World Cup match.
He has netted 21 goals in 23 games for Norway’s senior team.
What records can he break?
Premier League and English top flight goals for a season…
Haaland could smash the record for goals in a Premier League season if he carries on like this.
The record is 34 – by Andy Cole in 1993-94 and Alan Shearer the following season. But that was when there were 42 league games.
Haaland ‘only’ needs 20 goals in his next 29 games to beat that.
The record for a 38-game Premier League season is Mohamed Salah’s 32 in 2017-18.
Nobody has won the Premier League Golden Boot with a record of a goal a game or better. Harry Kane was closest with 29 goals in 30 games in 2016-17.
Haaland’s current rate of scoring would see him end on 63 league goals.
He will need to keep scoring at roughly this rate if he wants to become the top scorer in a season in English top-flight history.
Dixie Dean netted 60 goals in 39 First Division games for Everton in 1927-28. Tom Waring is second with 49 goals for Aston Villa in the top flight in 1930-31.
He might also find it tough to match the record for the top-five European leagues under their current guise – Lionel Messi’s sensational 50 goals in the 2011-12 La Liga.
Most goals by a City player in a season…
Haaland is already 52% of the way to this one.
Tommy Johnson’s 38 goals in 1928-29 remains the City record for a player in one season in all competitions.
The Champions League record in a season…
The record for Champions League goals in a season might be tougher to come by – with Cristiano Ronaldo netting a remarkable 17 goals in 11 games in 2013-14.
However on current form (five goals in three Champions League games) Haaland would break that if City reach the semi-finals and he plays every game.
Some other records…
The most goals scored by a player in a calendar month was Luis Suarez’s 10 in December 2013. Haaland was only one goal off that mark in August but he has a good few months to try to beat that. He has four in October so far.
The most goals scored in the first 20 Premier League games by a player is Kevin Phillips’ 19 and in 30 games it is Cole’s 28.
Cole has the record of fewest games needed to score 30 Premier League goals (32) and it might be ambitious to think of it this season but Shearer and Cole took 45 games to score 40 goals.
Jamie Vardy has the record for scoring in most consecutive Premier League games with 11. Haaland is on seven.
Shearer netted a record five hat-tricks in 1995-96. Haaland already has three.
The most goals in a Premier League game is five, shared by several players including City legend Sergio Aguero against Newcastle in 2015-16.
In the Champions League Van Nistelrooy has the record for fewest appearances to 30 goals (34) and 35 goals (42). If Haaland scores another seven goals he would break or equal those marks too.
Haaland could also close in on the Norway goalscoring record this season. He is only 12 goals off Jorgen Juve’s national record of 33 goals in the 1920s and 30s.
