Erling Haaland wins Golden Boot, but what records could he break in the future?

It has looked a formality for a long time but Erling Haaland’s status as the Premier League’s Golden Boot winner for 2022-23 is now official.

Haaland has broken numerous scoring records along the way to becoming City’s first Golden Boot winner since Sergio Aguero in 2014-15.

Among those records, he has scored the most goals in a single Premier League season, breaking the 34-goal mark shared by Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole for almost three decades.

“He lives for goals, that is what his life is about,” said Shearer. “He works on scoring goals every single day.

“He wants to go out on a Tuesday night, Wednesday night or a Saturday or a Sunday and get goals. Goals, goals, goals, they are his life, as they were mine.

“It’s all you think about 24/7 and it is all you want to do. I love his attitude, you can tell that he is so hungry, and how much a goal means to him, and I admire that so much.”

What other records could Haaland break?

But a player as driven as Haaland will only want to get better and better, so what other records are potentially in his sights?

Dixie Dean’s 63 goals in all competitions remains an English top flight record. Haaland has so far managed 52 goals overall this season and – barring hugely prolific displays in the FA Cup and Champions League finals – it seems likely Dean’s 95-year record will remain intact.

It also underlines just how incredible Lionel Messi’s 73 goals in the 2011-2012 season was – a tally that seems insurmountable.

Looking longer term, however, Haaland may be eyeing up Shearer’s all-time Premier League record.

The former Blackburn and Newcastle striker tops the scoring chart with 260 goals from 441 games. If Haaland maintains his current scoring rate then he could potentially surpass that total within six seasons.

‘He has been unstoppable’

Haaland was undoubtedly a nightmare for any defender to face this season, as one slip of concentration would be punished to devastating effect.

“What a season he has had, he has been unstoppable,” Brentford defender Ben Mee said on MOTD2. “He scored an incredible amount of goals.

“He is very close to the whole package. His movement is incredible. More often than not someone slides him through and he is on goal. He is deadly.”

Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards added: “People were saying Haaland would not fit into the squad but his runs in behind create space.

“He had to adapt to Manchester City but City had to adapt to him.

“It has been the perfect match.” – bbc.com