Erling Haaland is a footballing phenomenon, so said this article 12 months ago.
However, it could have been any number of articles or broadcasts the world over such is the impact this young man is having in the football world.
In fact, even as I am penning this article, the Norwegian wonder just keeps extending his amazing records.
As I write, he has just been substituted in Seville where he has scored twice for Manchester City in their Champions League opener in Seville.
To put it into perspective, until he burst onto the scene, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roberto Soldado shared the record for most Champions League goals in their first 20 appearances with 16.
Haaland has managed 25!
And one suspects, at both home and aboard, that the record breaking is only just beginning.
In every direction you look, the statistics are breathtaking.
Even before it was announced he was to join Manchester City in May, the talent was clear and he had been one of the best goalscorers in Europe from the moment that he burst on to the scene.
At that point, from joining Borussia Dortmund in January 2020, he had netted 85 goals in 88 games and last season was one of only three players in Europe’s “big five” leagues to have scored at a rate of better than a goal per 90 minutes.
Some media suggested his introduction came as if by stealth, drip-fed into our collective consciousness through spells with Byrne, Molde and RB Salzburg, before taking a huge step towards the big time with his transfer to Dortmund.
Indeed, the instinctive reaction of many rivals to the news that Haaland, unstoppable Norse goal-God and one of the two outstanding young attackers in world football, was to join City, was to hoist the white flag.
When Haaland struck his 10th goal in six games last Saturday, that viewpoint was only strengthened.
Talk about a player single-handedly creating his own Premier League highlights.
He started the game with aspirations of becoming the first player in 76 years to score a hat-trick in a third successive top-flight game Premier League and may have done so with slightly better service.
According to former Premier League striker Troy Deeney, ‘unstoppable’ Haaland could redefine the role for the next decade.
According to respected football journalist Fabrizio Romano, the impact of his move will be incredible. One of his all-time favourite transfer deals in recent years, ‘an excellent player in a club that has an extraordinary ability to plan for the future’.
City’s hierarchy of Xerran Soriano, Txiki Begiristain and, in particular, manager Pep Guardiola had been working for months to bring Haaland to City, given the offers he must have received from multiple clubs around Europe.
Even just a month into the new season and you can see why the SBOTOP Premier League betting odds back them as he eats defenders alive at home and abroad.
Back to Seville, and he just become the fourth player in Champions League history to score in his first appearance for three different teams (Salzburg, Dortmund and City), after Fernando Morientes, Javier Saviola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Good company indeed.
How good could he become?
Injuries permitting, we are about to find out, but the general consensus is that he and Paris St Germain’s young starlet Kylian Mbappe are the natural heirs to the throne of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
It could be quite an adventure.
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