Pep Guardiola is not surprised, the rest are simply amazed: Erling Haaland storms through the Premier League at record speed. With his second hat trick in a row, the Norwegian sets a first record.
Manchester City had to transfer a good 70 million euros to Borussia Dortmund for Erling Haaland. Financially, this is no longer even a background noise in the international transfer roar. Everyone knew that the Norwegian goalscorer is worth a multiple of that. The top international clubs and also BVB, who had to write a corresponding transfer fee into the contract for their superstar in order to be able to keep them in the Bundesliga for at least two and a half years. The 22-year-old has been playing under Pep Guardiola in the Premier League for a few weeks now and is recovering his transfer fee very quickly. And at record speed.
In the champions' 6-0 win against the ambitious promoted Nottingham Forest, who had strengthened their team for around 160 million euros before the season, Haaland already scored goals seven, eight and nine of the season - at the end of another impressive performance there was the second hat-trick in the fifth game . The Norwegian broke the record of City legend Sergio Agüero, who once had eight goals after the fifth day of play. The new signing from the Bundesliga scores every 43 minutes.
And the pace that Haaland sets also amazes England's football idol Gary Lineker: "The way Haaland starts, he will get Shearer's record before Kane," wrote the former world-class striker on Twitter. Alan Shearer is the Premier League's all-time leading scorer with 260 goals. Harry Kane (Tottenham) is currently fourth as the best active forward with 187 goals.
His trainer Pep Guardiola, on the other hand, is not at all surprised that Edeleinkauf immediately delivers at the highest level. "What he did in Norway, Austria and Germany, he does here too," said the coach, who has been working with the biggest stars of world football at FC Barcelona, FC Bayern and now Manchester City for four years. In the face of Haaland's supersonic performances in series, the world coach also carefully applies the brakes: "You always want everything immediately, but sometimes it takes time and rest. The better we play, the more chances he has to score goals." And: "Knowing him, I don't know if he would be happy to break records if we didn't win titles. But if the records help him, it's good."
Former Welsh defender Ashley Williams told BBC Match of the Day: "He's a real problem for the league at the moment. He's difficult to play against and he's a complete striker - he's got everything." The game against Nottingham was impressive proof, not only because of the goals, how quickly and how sustainably he arrived in the Premier League, which can hardly be overestimated, despite all the goals in four national professional leagues (Norway, Austria, Germany and England). Haaland finds the space that the game of his top-class teammates opens up to him with breathtaking speed, he also makes the league's defenders, who are calibrated for high speed, look bad for the first few meters - and he also takes advantage of the opportunities that open up for him.
Haaland does Haaland things, like before in Norway's elite series, in Austria and in the Bundesliga. "He's brilliant. He's got everything you need," enthused Forest trainer Steve Cooper. And former England international Dion Dublin is certain: "Man City have the best striker in the world at the moment. If he stays in the Premier League he will break any record."
In his first few weeks in the city, Haaland set a record for Manchester City's record scorer Sergio Agüero, who scored 260 times in 390 games for the Skyblues. However, there is one thing he cannot take away from the Argentine, even Guardiola is certain: Haaland will never achieve the status in the club's history that the exceedingly revered predecessor has. "Sergio is a legend," said Guardiola. "No one can take his place in the hearts of City fans ever since he scored the most important goal in the club's recent history."
In his debut season, Agüero gave Manchester City their first championship in 44 years with a goal deep in added time in the final game of the season in 2011. He won the league four times with Manchester, five times the League Cup and once the FA Cup, in 2021 his contract was not renewed, a few months after his departure the striker had to end his career in tears after a collapse on the pitch due to heart problems . "Sergio's contribution to Manchester City over the last ten years cannot be overstated," said club boss Khaldoon Al Mubarak when Aguero left. A statue of the legendary striker will be erected. Erling Haaland is now working on his own statue. A start has already been made. In record time.
