Since he joined Manchester City is the summer of 2022, Erling Haaland has made a habit of breaking records every season. Even last year, which was the worst of his career in terms of scoring rate since his breakthrough at RB Salzburg, saw him break long held goalscoring records. Given there is an expectation that both he and City will improve from the difficulties of last year, what records could be in sight for the Norwegian marksman for the 2025/26 season?
Most goals in first 100 Premier League appearances
This is a record Haaland already holds, breaking Alan Shearer’s figure of 79 goals in his first 100 Premier League games in January. Haaland currently stands on 85 goals in 97 games, so he can extend this record in City’s three league games before the end of August. Haaland has a very strong record in the opening three fixtures, notching 3 goals in the opening 3 games of his first two seasons at City as well as a gargantuan 7 goals in the first 3 games of last year. The likelihood of Haaland extending this record further seems high.
Fastest to 100 Premier League goals
Haaland’s current figure of 85 leaves him 15 off of a century of league goals. The current record for least games to 100 Premier League goals is Alan Shearer, who managed it in 124 appearances. So Haaland will need to score 15 goals in his first 27 appearances in order to beat the former Blackburn and Newcastle striker. To put that into perspective, Haaland’s slowest season to 15 league goals for City was last year, when he took 20 games. So unless he regresses significantly from what was already a somewhat underwhelming campaign, this record will be very much within his sights.
Most Premier League hat-tricks
This record is currently held by Manchester City legend Sergio Agüero, who notched 12 hat-tricks in his 10 seasons in England. Haaland currently stands 4th on this list with 8; 4 in his debut season followed by 2 in each of his other two seasons. If Haaland can return to his debut season form, he will match Agüero’s already impressive figure in just 4 seasons in the league. Additionally, were Haaland to go one better and hit 5 this season, he would match Alan Shearer’s record for most hat-tricks in a single season.
Most hat-tricks against a single Premier League club
Perhaps the most obscure of these records, but also could be the first one that he matches. The record is currently held by Luis Suárez, who scored 3 separate hat-tricks against Norwich City during his time playing for Liverpool. Haaland currently has 2 against Wolves, who City play in their opening fixture of the coming season. An opening day hat-trick would see Haaland match Suárez’s feat, and if he were to hit a second in the reverse fixture in January, the Norwegian would take the record all for himself.
All-time Premier League goalscoring rankings
While matching Alan Shearer’s 260 goals figure is out of reach, a return to the output that has defined Haaland’s career could see him pass a number of league legends. He currently sits tied with Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres with his 85 goal figure. Were he to hit 30 league goals, a high figure but very much possible for a player whose worst season saw him score 22, he would leap to 115 goals (ignoring the obvious joke here). This figure would put him 24th, ahead of the likes of Ian Wright, Ryan Giggs, Peter Crouch and Paul Scholes. It would also put him just 9 goals off of being in the top 20 goalscorers in league history.
All-time Manchester City goalscoring rankings
Finally, Haaland can make major headway in the statistical history of Manchester City. Haaland has scored 124 goals for the club, which puts him 14th in their rankings, and 3rd among players in the Premier League era. The figure of Sergio Agüero’s record, coincidentally also 260 goals, looms too far in the distance for the time being. Using my figure of 30 goals for the season, though this time it is in all-competitions and thus probably at least somewhat of an underestimation, he would leap to 154 goals for the club. This would put him 4th for the club, behind only Agüero, Eric Brook and Tommy Johnson, and ahead of club legends Colin Bell, Francis Lee and, most recently, Raheem Sterling.
Conclusion
The coming season holds a lot of unknowns for Erling Haaland and Manchester City, but you would imagine that Haaland scoring a significant amount of goals will not be something in question. The degree of his goalscoring could vary, but even just a return to his traditional form could see him break yet more records for the 8-time Premier League champions.
