Erling Haaland: Projections of a Franchise Player

He has just turned 22 and is already facing the most important professional challenge of his career, the one in which he must prove that the 60 million dollars Manchester City paid Borussia Dortmund for his services were worth it. This is the Norwegian Erling Haaland, one of the jewels of current soccer.

The first premise, which stated that it was going to be difficult for him to get into a rhythm in a league as competitive as the English one, was overcome by the “Viking” striker, since in four games he has scored six goals, including a brace and hat trick. Beyond the goals, his ability to solve in the area by location, hitting with the foot or head, and strength, suggest that it will be a long campaign for the defenders of the other teams.

It is that not even Cristiano Ronaldo himself, top scorer in the history of soccer, stood out as much in his first appearances in what is now called the "best league in the world" in the Manchester United uniform as this young attacker has done. Of course, this is just beginning, as there are 34 games remaining in the league, plus the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup and, above all, the Champions League.

Another important fact is that Haaland achieved his three conquests against Crystal Palace in a period of 19 minutes, an unprecedented mark for a debutant in the history of the league. With his performance on four games, he equaled the record of Sergio “El Kun” Agüero, the top scorer in the history of the 'citizens'. As if that were not enough, he is only the fourth player to achieve it and the first since Diego Costa, who, in his debut with Chelsea in 2014, scored seven goals in four games.

Encouraging statistics

The former Borussia Dortmund does not frequently participate in the elaboration of the Mancherster City´s game, but his characteristic is far from that. In recent years, Pep Guardiola's team has never had a pure 9 – apart from Agüero – as it does now with Haaland.

Against Palace, he barely touched the ball 18 times, 10 of them in the rival area, and only made nine passes, of which eight were delivered correctly, and of those eight, five in the last third after 83 minutes on the pitch. In addition, he registered seven shots inside the rival area, and three on goal, finishing all three in the opposite net.

The numbers of the "Cyborg" after the four initial days are 326 minutes of action, 18 shots and six goals. His average is one goal every 54 minutes, while he needs few shots to score. In the penalty department, he has only taken one and made it effective. He also has an assist.

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High and constant average

In just three seasons in the Bundesliga, Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 appearances for Borussia Dortmund. That reflects a scoring average of 0.97, which is impressive for a kid who was 19 at the time.

Today in England, his average is even higher after four games: 1.5. It's clear he won't be able to keep it, but if he doesn't bring it down considerably he will still be an overwhelming number for any other striker.

If we transfer him to his National Team, the numbers are even more striking, because after 21 games he has scored 20 goals, which is crazy! 0.95 points per game. To give you an idea, great stars like Messi, CR7 or Neymar himself are not even close to obtaining those numbers with their national teams.

"City is a team with many top-level players and Pep Guardiola is one of the best coaches in history, so I think I'm in the right place to fulfill my dreams," said the striker shortly after signing his contract. with the current monarch of the Premier League, according to the medium Paraganar.com.

Haaland will have five seasons -until 2026-27- to make history and place himself at the height of big names like Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Alan Shearer or the Egyptian Mohamed Salah, who recently became the only player to score in the first day of the Premier League for six consecutive seasons, from 17-18, after scoring against Watford.

Selected list

Argentina's Aguero leads the hat tricks department in Premier League history with 12 three-goal games. At first glance, it seems like a number within reach of Haaland considering his previous averages and that he is just starting his juicy five-year contract.

Alan Shearer is second on the list with 11 hat-tricks after 14 seasons spread between Newcastle, Blackburn Rovers and Southampton. Third place goes to Robbie Fowler, who scored nine hat tricks in a Liverpool shirt. Frenchman Thierry Henry added eight with Arsenal to occupy fourth place.

With eight hat tricks there are also the English Harry Kane (Tottenham), who is emerging as Haaland's main rival in scoring figures for the next five years, and the remembered Michael Owen, who distributed his eight trebles between Liverpool and Newcastle United. The select list is completed by the aforementioned Rooney with seven, distributed between Manchester United and Everton.

There's no telling how long the Norwegian 'Viking' will need to get past these big stars, but if he stays healthy, there's every reason to believe his talent and City's solid project will quickly put him on Olympus.