The Norwegian has another Golden Boot in the bag despite his injury problems, but didn't get a single vote for the FWA Footballer of the Year
Remember when the Premier League Golden Boot was an ultra-competitive race? The top scorer's award was shared between Son Heung-min and Mohamed Salah in 2021-22, while three players finished the 2018-19 campaign on top of the charts with 22 goals. Just one goal separated the top two in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2015-16.
Then Erling Haaland came along. Last year, the Manchester City striker scored a record-breaking 36 goals in his debut season in England, obliterating the league's previous record which had stood since 1995. He finished with six goals more than nearest challenger Harry Kane, the biggest margin between top-scorer and runner-up since 2014.
And despite missing almost two months with a foot injury which continued to hold him back long after returning to action, Haaland is set to win another Golden Boot this time around – and by another big margin. The Norwegian's stonking display in front of goal against Wolves took him on to 25 goals for the season in the league, four more than second-placed Cole Palmer.
He has 36 goals in all competitions and there is a likely prospect of him taking that number to 40 by the end of the campaign, while yet again hitting the 30-goal mark in the league is not out of the question. And yet, there is a sense that Haaland's achievements are no longer getting the full recognition they deserve.
Getty ImagesSnubbed by journalists
Haaland's goal-scoring tour de force against Wolves came a day after the winners of the annual Football Writers Awards were announced. Haaland had won the men's Footballer of the Year prize last year with 82 percent of the vote, but it was no great surprise that his team-mate Phil Foden ended up winning the award instead of him in 2024.
What was surprising, though, was the number of votes Haaland received: none. Despite leading the scoring charts all season while missing two months due to injury, despite his crucial role in City being on track to win a historic fourth consecutive title, not one journalist thought the Norwegian was the best player in England this season.
By contrast, Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes picked up at least one vote each despite a miserable season with Manchester United, while a few writers deemed that Alexis Mac Allister, Ross Barkley, Ollie Watkins and John McGinn had enjoyed better campaigns than Haaland.
AdvertisementGetty Normalising the astonishing
It might be argued that Haaland has become a victim of his own success and that by scoring with such regularity, he has ended up normalising his astonishing goal tallies. For a player who scored 36 league goals last season, 25 looks ordinary to many observers and not worthy of special recognition.
But it is. Sergio Aguero, City's all-time top scorer and their greatest striker before Haaland, only scored more than 25 league goals once in his decade with the club. And he never reached 36 goals in all competitions. Kane only reached that milestone once when he played in England, and the same is true of Salah.
Getty Different rules apply
As well as effectively securing the Golden Boot, Haaland reached another astonishing milestone on Saturday. He has now scored 201 club goals within the last five seasons, for Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and City. That's an average of 40 goals per campaign. While playing in Austria, Germany and England, he has 203 goals from 210 games.
"Back in business" was how Guardiola described Haaland's goal-haul, which summed up the fact that he had expected more of his striker than he had delivered in recent weeks. The Norwegian had scored five goals in his previous 10 matches, numbers that would garner praise were it any other striker, or at the very least protect them from criticism.
Haaland has been so prolific since he joined City, indeed since he made a name for himself at Salzburg in 2019, that the definition of a slump or a goal drought for him is quite different to other strikers. The longest period he has gone without a goal this season is three matches.
Getty ImagesFirst scapegoat
The nature of Haaland's game is that, as he is so dedicated to goalscoring, he is only lauded when he puts the ball in the net at a remarkable rate. In attritional matches where there is little goalmouth action or he misses opportunities, he inevitably becomes the first scapegoat if City fail to win.
Roy Keane brazenly called him a "League Two player" after he drew a blank against Arsenal in March, and the Spanish media rounded on him after his quiet displays in both legs against Real Madrid. His all-round play is inarguably less impressive than the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Salah, Kane, Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney or Thierry Henry, but that shouldn't diminish from his ability to put the ball in the net.
