After signing a mammoth new contract with Manchester City until 2034, we’ve priced Erling Haaland up at 7/2 to break Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of 260 goals.
The Norwegian’s contract was previously due to expire in 2027, while his new deal would keep him at the Etihad until he’s 34, with a release clause coming into effect from 2029.
While the news will surely delight fans, it also points to potential success in Manchester City’s hearing regarding alleged rules breaches, which threatened the club’s status in the Premier League.
bet365’s Sports and Trading expert Steve Freeth said: “Haaland's new bumper deal gives him a chance of hunting down Alan Shearer's mammoth record total of 260 and while 182 goals seems a very long way off, this is Erling Haaland we're talking about.”
For all of the Premier League’s greats, nobody has quite had the same impact as Haaland. Ruud van Nistelrooy took 68 games to reach 50 Premier League goals, Shearer took 66 games to reach 50 Premier League goals, and Andrew Cole took just 65 games to reach 50 goals – without scoring a single penalty – yet Haaland managed to reach the milestone in just 48 games.
Cole still holds the record for the most non-penalty goals in a season with 34 (albeit in a 42-game campaign), and that’s a record that even Haaland might struggle to break, but virtually everything else is well in his sights.
The lethal Sergio Aguero leads the way with 12 hat-tricks with Shearer second in the Premier League on 11.
Shearer reached his tally in 411 games, while Aguero managed his dozen in just 275. Haaland is already on eight and hasn’t played 100 games yet. It’s not just Haaland’s consistency that sets him apart, but his ability to put games beyond reach through his sheer goalscoring prowess.
Strangely enough, this is Haaland’s worst season at the Etihad by some distance. He’s scoring a relatively modest (for him, at least) 0.77 goals per 90, but that still translates to 16 goals and we’re only just into the new year. Anything less than 25 goals would be a huge shock, yet in the four seasons prior to Haaland’s arrival in England, the Premier League’s Golden Boot was won with tallies of 22, 23, 23 and 23.
What felt like a drop in standards last season still saw the forward bag 27 goals, such is the bar he’s set for himself.
If Haaland is to see out his contract at the Etihad, it’s extremely hard to see him not clearing Shearer’s record comfortably.
Assuming he gets seven more goals this season, he’d need just seven more campaigns of 25 goals each to clear Shearer.