- Erling Haaland broke the EPL all-time goal scoring record.
- Haaland smashed home his 35th goal of the year against West Ham on Wednesday.
Erling Haaland is officially the king of the English Premier League.
The 22-year-old striker, who joined Manchester City in the summer from German side Borussia Dortmund, netted his 35th goal of the season on Wednesday against West Ham, breaking Alan Shearer's all-time reacord of 34 goals in a season, which has stood since 1995.
—NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) May 3, 2023
Haaland started scoring in bunches as soon as he landed in the Premier league.
Nine of his goals came from netting an EPL-first three consecutive home match hat tricks earlier this season – first against Crystal Palace, then Nottingham Forest, and then City's great rival, Manchester United.
With that breathtaking start to the year, Haaland set an astonishing pace, and breaking the all-time record looked far more an matter of when than if.
On Wednesday we got our answer — Haaland needed just 33 matchdays to break Shearer's record, and still has five matches left to play to push the record higher and higher.
When you look at Haaland's scoring through the season compared to the other best seasons in EPL history, he clearly stands a cut above the competition.
Haaland began his career with in his home country with Bryne before moving to fellow Norwegian club Molde FK at 16, where he would score 20 goals in 50 matches.
He moved to Austrian team RB Salzburg in January 2019, where in just one year, he scored 29 goals, including five hat tricks and six goals in the Champions League – form that prompted Borussia Dortmund to come calling before the turn of the year.
For Dortmund, even despite struggles with injury during the last of his two-and-a-half seasons in Germany, Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 matches.
Haaland also boasts an extremely impressive scoring record for his country, having netted 21 goals in 23 matches for Norway.
For all of the goals he's already scored, Haaland is still just 22 years old.
After his ridiculous start to the season, Haaland received support from some of EPL's greatest players in his quest to break the record set by Shearer.
"He could be the greatest ever in the Premier League, couldn't he?" the former Chelsea FC and England captain John Terry said of Haaland in September after his hat trick against Manchester United.
"You're trying to compare him with somebody, [but] I've never seen a player so young have that desire to score the goals he's scored.
"He is just relentless."
The former Liverpool FC and England defender Jamie Carragher also said the same of Haaland.
"He just looks absolutely amazing," said Carragher. "We know we've got a great player in the league, but I think we've got something really, really special, where when he's finished his time at Man City or in the Premier League, we'll be taking about him alongside Thierry Henry.
"I think this lad could end up being the best player we've seen in the Premier League, I really do. He's that special and he's made a brilliant start."
Even Shearer himself was Haaland to break his own record.
"My record of 34 goals in a season is under serious threat," the Englishman, who is the EPL's record career goalscorer with 260, said after Haaland's hot start. "If he stays fit, he's breaking it."
Haaland stayed fit, and now he's in the record books.