The Manchester City striker could break countless records in his career, but what were the current icons doing at the same stage of their careers?
Goal machine, beast, robot, tremendous Nordic meat shield; the descriptions of Erling Haaland get more and more outlandish, but he Manchester City striker has been nothing short of a phenomenal since his summer switch from Borussia Dortmund to the Premier League.
Haaland has scored 17 goals in his first 11 matches for City, and manager Pep Guardiola has warned that his star striker will only get better.
At just 22, Haaland already has 152 club goals and another 21 for Norway, putting him on course to be one of the all-time great goalscorers.
But where exactly does he rank alongside some legends of the game at this point in his career? GOAL takes a look…
Lionel Messi
When it comes to the greatest players he has ever coached, Guardiola never deviates from naming Messi.
"[Haaland] can be a better player [than Messi is], he can have the will do do it," he said after Haaland's Premier League debut. "He likes football, I have never seen a player who is 21 or 22 years old – maybe Messi he was already advanced – but the rest are never finished and always you can improve."
In terms of goalscoring, though, the Argentine was nowhere near close to Haaland's extraordinary figures at exactly the same age.
Messi had scored 44 times from 112 appearances for Barcelona, although he spent much of his time as a winger, and had contributed to three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues.
It was also the age when he exploded as a goalscorer, netting a ridiculous 628 goals from his next 666 matches for the Spanish giants, and by the age of 23 he had won the Ballon d'Or.
AdvertisementCristiano Ronaldo
Like Messi, at Ronaldo was a season away from winning his first Ballon d'Or at the age of 22, though he had already finished as runner-up to Kaka in the battle to be named the world's best footballer.
He was also mostly being used as a winger at that time, meaning his 50th career goal came shortly before his 22nd birthday in April, while the wait to score the first of his 50 career hat-tricks would last another six months.
In some ways, however, Ronaldo had a similar career trajectory to Haaland's, as he too decided a move to Manchester was the best way to truly announce himself as a global superstar.
Kylian Mbappe
If Messi and Ronaldo dominated the last decade or more, then Haaland and Mbappe will be the strikers to hog the limelight for at least the next 10 years.
The rivalry has already begun after the Paris Saint-Germain striker mocked Haaland's 'zen' celebration after beating Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in 2020.
Mbappe is 18 months older than Haaland, but won the Golden Boy three seasons earlier than his counterpart following a standout year with Monaco, PSG and France in 2017.
He is currently ahead in terms of total number of club goals, with 208 from 286 appearances at an average of 0.73 goal per game, similar if slightly inferior to Haaland's 0.78.
It is also very similar when comparing this stage of their careers, with Mbappe having just nine goals fewer than Haaland, albeit from 23 more appearances.
Karim Benzema
The debate over who is the best striker in the world right now is a fierce one, but Benzema's almost-certain Ballon d'Or win in the coming weeks might mean he is best deserving of the crown.
His superstar status has rocketed late in his career, mostly after coming out of the shadow of Ronaldo, although he has always been a consistent performer.
At 21, he was monitored by the top clubs in Europe after 66 goals in 148 appearances for Lyon, and Real Madrid beat off competition from Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United for his signing in 2009.
In his first season at Santiago Bernabeu, though, he managed only nine goals.
That pales in comparison to this past campaign when, aged 34, his total of 44 goals was comfortably the best of his career.
