Pep Guardiola has worked with a long list of superstars during his managerial career, but none can match Erling Haaland’s strike rate.
The Norwegian international joined Guardiola’s Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund and has made an immediate impact.
Haaland has 15 goals in 22 appearances for his new team across all competitions.
His Premier League record, on the other hand, is particularly impressive. Haaland has found the back of the net 17 times in 11 Premier League appearances, including three hat-tricks.
Guardiola said after Haaland scored twice in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Brighton that his star player would ‘definitely’ break the Premier League’s all-time seasonal goalscoring record this season.
“We don’t have to be geniuses,” Guardiola said, according to Goal. “If he keeps this up, with the average every game, he will undoubtedly break the record. However, in football, you may score and then stop scoring after a few days. I’m not sure.
“I didn’t speak with him, I think he’s happy when the team wins and not when they lose. All the strikers I have seen in my career, Samuel Eto’o, [Lionel] Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, and Sergio Aguero, all have the incredible ambition to score goals. It’s normal. He has to be like that.”
That Guardiola was able to reel off the names of five of the finest goalscorers in modern history when referring to his past experiences speaks to the sheer quality of players he has worked with during his career.
In addition to Eto’o, Messi, Lewandowski, Muller, and Aguero, the 51-year-old Spaniard has coached the likes of Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and David Villa.
It’s some notable company to be mentioned in, but Haaland’s goals-per-game ratio under Guardiola proves that it’s entirely justified.
The data gurus over at Squawka recently shared a graphic comparing the strike rates of 10 of the biggest name forwards to have worked with Pep – and Haaland was top of the list by a significant margin.
With a goals-per-game ratio of 1.47, Haaland has been exactly three times as prolific for Guardiola as Ibrahimovic was at Barcelona (0.49).
Haaland is also currently finding the back of the net at nearly two-and-a-half times the rate that Aguero did under Pep at the Etihad.
The Argentine striker hit 124 goals in 182 games during Guardiola’s reign. At his current strike rate, Haaland will match that same number in a little over 84 matches.
Prior to Haaland linking up with Pep, seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi would have been the runaway leader on this list. Averaging close to a goal every game, his 211 strikes in 219 outings is an outrageous feat.
Compared to Haaland, though, his ratio of 0.96 looks positively pedestrian. It takes a lot to make Messi look human, but the City favorite’s numbers are managing it at present.
Can Erling Haaland maintain his scintillating form?
Admittedly, Haaland’s overall goal tally is the joint-lowest on the list (with Villa). However, barring injury, it’s tough to see how he can be stopped at present.
The current Premier League goalscoring record for a single season stands at 34 (shared by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer). Haaland already has half of that total after 11 games.
At a 1.47 goals-per-game ratio, he’s on course to smash the record within the next 12 games. Frightening stuff!
It’s also worth noting that, while many of his Premier League counterparts will be off to the World Cup next month, Haaland will have the luxury of a rest period because Norway did not qualify for the tournament in Qatar.
The man is an absolute cheat code, and it will take something extraordinary to keep him from tearing up the Premier League record books.
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