Erling Haaland’s new nine-and-a-half-year Manchester City contract has brought the Premier League scoring record on to the agenda.
Alan Shearer’s tally of 260 goals has stood as the competition’s highest since he retired in 2006 and while Haaland is a long way off on 79, his scoring rate and the length of his new deal put him in position to chase the landmark.
Here, the PA news agency looks at how Haaland compares to the leading scorers.
Haaland’s record
The perfect start to 2025! 🫶🏻 pic.twitter.com/axjiBNxu5A
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) January 4, 2025
Haaland has 79 goals in 87 league games for City since moving from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, and 111 in 126 in all competitions.
– His debut season in Manchester brought him 36 Premier League goals, breaking the long-standing record of 34 shared by Shearer and Andy Cole – who both achieved that mark in 42-game seasons.
– Haaland scored 27 league goals last season to win his second successive Golden Boot. His 16 this season ranks second, two goals behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
– He was the quickest player ever to reach 50 Premier League goals, in 48 games, to beat Cole’s record of 65. For the 100-goal milestone, the mark to chase is Shearer’s 124 games.
– Haaland has eight Premier League hat-tricks, already within sight of former City striker Sergio Aguero’s record of 12.
Record pursuit
Shearer, Harry Kane and Wayne Rooney are the only players to score over 200 goals in the Premier League.
– Shearer’s record 260 goals came in 441 appearances, in 14 seasons from 1992-93 to 2005-06.
– Kane scored 213 goals in just 320 league games in a decade at Tottenham, while Rooney needed 16 seasons and 491 appearances to rack up 208 goals.
– Haaland’s 79 goals put him eight ahead of Shearer’s 71 after 87 games, the same number Haaland has played to date. Kane had 49 at that stage and Rooney just 24.
– At Haaland’s current averages of 35 games per season and 0.91 goals per game, he would play another 322 games and score 292 goals over the full term of his new contract for a new record total of 371 goals in 409 games.
– Shearer won the Golden Boot three years in succession, from 1994-95 to 1996-97 – a feat Haaland is in contention to match this term. Kane is also a three-time winner, with Rooney never finishing top of the scoring charts.
– Rooney did win five Premier League titles with Manchester United. Haaland, with back-to-back wins in his first two seasons, has already passed the combined tally of Shearer, who fired Blackburn to the 1994-95 crown before his move to Newcastle, and Kane.
– Haaland ranks 61st in the all-time Premier League scoring chart, since its rebranding in 1992. In the early stages of his new contract, his sights will be on becoming the 35th player to reach 100 goals.
