Erling Haaland to take Alan Shearer crown – Will he last the course? | OneFootball

Erling Haaland has been making a ‘few’ headlines.

Not a bad start for Manchester City after his summer transfer.

As any very promising striker does when he starts scoring goals in the Premier League, the question is asked, can he take Alan Shearer’s Premier League record away from him?

It is now over 16 years since Alan Shearer retired as a player, in that time nobody else has come remotely close to breaking his PL total.

So is Erling Haaland the one?

This is how the current top twenty looks.

260 Alan Shearer (Retired)

208 Wayne Rooney (Retired)

190 Harry Kane (Aged 29 and playing for Tottenham)

187 Andy Cole (Retired)

184 Sergio Agüero (Retired)

177 Frank Lampard (Retired)

175 Thierry Henry (Retired)

163 Robbie Fowler (Retired)

162 Jermain Defoe (Retired)

150 Michael Owen (Retired)

149 Les Ferdinand (Retired)

146 Teddy Sheringham (Retired)

144 Robin van Persie (Retired)

133 Jamie Vardy (Aged 35 and playing for Leicester)

127 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Retired)

126 Robbie Keane (Retired)

125 Nicolas Anelka (Retired)

123 Dwight Yorke (Retired)

122 Mohamed Salah (Aged 30 and playing for Liverpool)

121 Romelu Lukaku ( Aged 29 and playing for Inter Milan in Serie A)

As you can see, the top 20 Premier League goalscorers includes 16 who have already retired.

Only three of the top twenty are still playing Premier League football and only one of those is any kind of threat to Alan Shearer. Jamie Vardy is now aged 35 and still 127 goals behind the NUFC legend, whilst Mohamed Salah has just crept into the top twenty with his goal against Fulham this season, but is aged 30 and trails Shearer by 139 goals.

Of the trio, only Harry Kane carries any threat, as things stand. He turns 30 next July and is currently 70 goals behind.

The stats are a bit false anyway, because whilst Shearer is still 70 goals ahead of Harry Kane in terms of Premier League goals, it is effectively really 93, as 23 top tier goals that Shearer scored before the rebranding of the English top league, don’t count as ‘Premier League’ goals when it comes to the PL record.

However, leaving that (and Harry Kane) aside for the moment.

We have Erling Haaland, he is currently 246 Premier League goals behind Alan Shearer.

His 14 PL goals have only come from eight games and as things stand, this season could be another level if he can keep this level going, especially with the quality of Man City’s supply line.

Erling Haaland turns 23 in July (2023) and has time on his hands.

So can he do it?

Well, he looks a class act, as was Alan Shearer, but he has already had injury issues in his career, with absences due to hip, thigh, hamstring and knee injuries.

None of them seriously long lasting BUT enough to help limit him to 22, 27 and 21 league starts these past three seasons.

Alan Shearer created this remarkable record despite having to come back from two very serious injuries during his career. Will Erling Haaland be able to do the same if the worst happens?

Even if he can do it, you are probably looking at another eight years or more before Erling Haaland could potentially break the PL record, even if staying largely injury free. By that time Alan Shearer will have turned 60 and it will be getting on for around a quarter of a century since the Newcastle United legend will have retired from scoring goals, by that time hopefully he will be more concerned with how the team he supports are going to manage to fit their latest trophy / trophies into the St James’ Park trophy cabinet…