Haaland makes the Premier League his playground

Scepticism followed Erling Haaland’s £52 million (R1 billion) move to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in the previous transfer window as some wondered if his link-up play would suit a team coached by Pep Guardiola, while others doubted the Spanish tactician could adapt his philosophy to Haaland’s strengths. In just three short months, however, those previously held fears and concerns seem comical. In City’s 6-3 drubbing of Manchester United last weekend, the 22-year-old scored three times to become the first player in the history of the Premier League to net three consecutive home hat-tricks, while he also became the fastest player to score three hat-tricks in England’s top division by a whopping 40 games. Soccer Laduma senior writer Kurt Buckerfield marvels at the Norwegian sensation’s start to life in what many call the toughest league in world football, one that, for now at least, is Haaland’s playground.

Generational talent

The footballing world is witnessing something truly special, as United legend Gary Neville suggested in his post-match thoughts following the Red Devils’ significant defeat to their noisy neighbours at the weekend. Instead of expending all his energy on where it might have gone wrong for new manager Erik ten Hag, Neville was in awe of the explosive, almost terrifying qualities he’d seen from Haaland in the Manchester derby on Sunday. Neville likened the Norway international to some of the sport’s most iconic names, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo Nazario and Zinedine Zidane, as he made the point that Haaland’s ability should earn him a seat at the table with those aforementioned all-timers, but what is it about his game that earns him such praise? Haaland has obvious physical advantages. He is tall, athletic and has long strides that help him cover large patches of grass quickly. In some circles on social media, Haaland is accused of having been produced in a lab, while others believe he is the most advanced form of artificial intelligence. Although those remarks have been made jokingly, they do little to give credit to how he thinks about his own game at just 22 years old. Impressively, Haaland appears to fully understand his strengths and knows exactly how to keep putting himself in positions from where he can exploit defenders, a massively rare trait for a footballer so young, proving there is a lot more to him than being stronger and faster than those he goes up against. It has been just two months since he made his Premier League debut for the champions, and he has already bagged 14 league goals. For context, last season’s Golden Boot winners, Heung-min Son and Mohamed Salah, needed just 23 strikes to share the award in the 2021/22 campaign. Since the beginning of this season, meanwhile, the former Molde forward has scored more goals than 14 of the 20 Premier League teams, including Manchester United and Chelsea.

Is even Pep surprised?

When Sergio Aguero parted ways with City to join Barcelona as a free agent in 2021, a tearful Guardiola took a moment out of his end-of-season celebrations to speak about the Argentine whose time at the club had come to an end. By all accounts, Aguero is considered among the greatest strikers to have played in England, and the greatest to have represented the Manchester club, with Guardiola at the time insisting it would be impossible to replace the team’s most lethal goalscorer in history. With 260 goals in 390 appearances, Aguero was later honoured with a statue outside the Etihad Stadium to pay tribute to the incredibly successful 10 years of service he gave the club, a decade in which he, on many occasions, single-handedly won games and trophies for the side whose triumphs upset the order of English football. While it would be difficult to imagine any No. 9 surpassing Aguero’s legacy at City, Haaland has shown Guardiola that life after the Argentine can be just as fruitful. Speaking after this past weekend’s demolition of the Red Devils, the ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager made a startling admission that he has not, at any point since he started working with Haaland, taught him anything, insisting that the forward’s goalscoring instinct is something he was born with.

Will he beat Salah’s record?

Former England internationals Andy Cole and Alan Shearer hold the record for the most goals scored in a 42-game league season with 34 strikes in the English topflight, with Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah currently the holder of the record in a 38-match campaign. In the 2017/18 season, the Egyptian winger netted on a staggering 32 occasions for the Reds, a tally and accomplishment that seems to now be under serious threat. If Haaland, who is currently averaging 1.75 goals a game, continues to score as regularly as he has in his first eight Premier League matches, he will finish the campaign with 66 goals. After his first eight games during that record-breaking season for Salah, the African forward had amassed just four strikes. With 14 goals already, a run that includes three consecutive hat-tricks scored at home, Haaland is on course to shatter Salah’s achievement.