Erling Haaland has become almost unplayable, with rivals across Europe struggling to come up with a plan when it comes to containing the Manchester City striker’s very obvious threat.
The powerful Norwegian burst out of the blocks at the start of the current campaign, hitting the 20-goal mark across his outings for club and country through just 12 appearances – with that notable milestone being reached by mid-October.
He plundered five goals for Norway in an 11-1 mauling of Moldova, before registering another hat-trick against Israel. Four braces were recorded for City in the Premier League and Champions League competitions.
The peak of his powers
Erling Haaland has now scored in a straight games for club and country pic.twitter.com/WHprFaW3LC
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 21, 2025
Pep Guardiola’s side are looking rather ominous again, with Man City vs Liverpool odds pricing them at -125 to emerge victorious in another epic encounter between two sides that have collected the last eight top-flight titles between them.
Haaland has quite literally been leading from the front, so much so that he has already been cut to -1000 in the Golden Boot markets, which feature in Premier League 25/26 betting.
When operating at the peak of his powers, the most fearsome of No.9s sends shivers down the spine of opposition defences from Merseyside to Madrid. Recognising what he has to offer is one thing, but stopping him is a different challenge entirely.
It is only a matter of time before Haaland becomes a centurion on the Premier League goal front, having ticked over there at close to one effort per game, and would appear to have plenty of history-making exploits up his sleeve.
The standards being set, though, in modern football mean that he is not running away with the title of ‘best player in the world’. Bars of individual brilliance have been raised to unfathomable heights by all-time greats Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Following in their illustrious footsteps is close to being an impossible task, but plenty are seemingly willing to give it a go. Haaland falls into that category, with his strike rate holding up nicely against some of the most iconic players to have ever laced up a pair of boots.
The same, however, can be said about a couple of other prolific centre-forwards. Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid respectively, have also blazed beyond 20 goals this season in double quick time.
Quizzed on whether Haaland is currently the pick of the bunch, Alan Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time leading scorer – said: “Well, that’s difficult when you’ve got Mbappe with his record, Kane with his. They’re three very different strikers who are brilliant at the most important thing, which is putting the ball in the back of the net.”
Extraterrestrial exploits
Only Erling Haaland has reached double figures quicker in a season than… Erling Haaland. pic.twitter.com/QEjREbmRkh
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 18, 2025
Haaland has made no secret of the fact that he would like to win the Ballon d’Or at some stage, while Kane concedes that a Golden Ball is very much in his thoughts. Mbappe has been tipped to win that prize ever since he burst onto the scene.
They are, however, proving that while Messi and Ronaldo have left a notable gap at the top of the global game, filling said void will be easier said than done – with exploits of the extraterrestrial now required, rather than those which are merely superhuman.
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