Seven EPL Golden Boot winners Erling Haaland has already outscored
Erling Haaland is only 22 years old and playing his first Premier League campaign, and yet 14 games in he’s already outscored seven Premier League Golden Boot winners.
With his brace against Leeds United, Haaland has hit the 20-goal mark in just his 14th appearance – smashing Kevin Phillips’ record as the fastest player to reach the milestone.
We’re not even at the halfway point, but the Manchester City striker has moved level with 20-goal Golden Boot winners Didier Drogba (2006-07), Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez (2010-11) of years gone by.
If he can remain injury-free, it looks inevitable he’ll break Andy Cole and Alan Shearer’s 34-goal Premier League records, as well as Mohamed Salah’s (32 in 2017-18) for a 38-game season. He might even beat the 50 league goals the legendary Lionel Messi notched back in 2011-12).
Here are the seven Golden Boot winners that Haaland has already outscored in just 14 appearances.
Dion Dublin, Michael Owen & Chris Sutton – 18 (1997-98)
A young Michael Owen showed how electric he was with that goal against Argentina at France ’98, but this was close to his peak already – Haaland has already managed what he never quite managed and score 20 Premier League goals in a single campaign.
That year, the teenage Liverpool striker shared the Golden Boot with fellow England hopefuls Dion Dublin (in his last season at Coventry) and Chris Sutton (still at Blackburn, with the main goalscoring responsibility following Alan Shearer’s move to Newcastle) on 18 goals.
Arsenal won the title that year, with Dennis Bergkamp ending up as their top scorer on 16 goals.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Michael Owen & Dwight Yorke – 18 (1998-99)
Erling’s old man Alf Inge-Haaland was playing alongside Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at Leeds when the Dutch centre-forward won the Golden Boot with 18 goals in 1998-99.
Hasselbaink shared the Golden Boot that year with Owen, who matched his tally from the year before, and Dwight Yorke, who played a vital role in Manchester United’s unforgettable treble of 1998-99 – the former Trinidad and Tobago international scored 18 in the league and 29 in all competitions.
It looks as though Haaland will smash Yorke’s goalscoring exploits from that year – but can he match that all-important trophy haul? Watch this space.
Nicolas Anelka – 19 (2008-09)
The 2008-09 season memorably saw a thrilling title race between Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
Back then, Liverpool had a prime Fernando Torres leading the line, while United still boasted their brilliant Carlos Tevez-Wayne Rooney-Cristiano Ronaldo front three.
But none of those great names actually won the Golden Boot that year. They were all outscored by Nicolas Anelka, in his first full campaign with Chelsea after arriving from Bolton in January 2008.
The Frenchman bounced back in style after missing a costly penalty in the Blues’ Champions League final defeat to United the year before.
