Erling Haaland might have broken many Premier League scoring records – but he’s still not one of its all-time great strikers.
That’s the opinion of former top-flight forward Troy Deeney, who doesn’t have the Manchester City superstar in his top 10 Premier League frontmen.
Haaland turned 26 on Tuesday, celebrating his birthday just a few weeks before the 2026/27 campaign gets started.
After a successful first-ever World Cup with Norway, the forward turns his attention back to domestic football.
And there’s no doubt that he will be eyeing more records.
Haaland has made an incredible amount of history since joining Man City in 2022, breaking new boundaries every year.
He has the title of being the fastest player ever to reach a tally of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 goals in the Premier League.
The Norwegian has also become the fastest player to reach 100 goal involvements in fewer than 100 league games (94).
As well as that, the City talisman has the record for the most goals ever scored in a single Premier League season (36).
It doesn’t stop there either, with Haaland the only player ever to score a hat-trick in three consecutive home league games.
And he has another amazing record too, being the first player to score 50+ goals in a top-flight season in England since 1931.
In total, Haaland has scored 112 Premier League goals in just 132 games, but Deeney doesn’t think he sits with the greats…
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Is Haaland the best ever striker in the Premier League?
Drive host Andy Goldstein read out all of those stats that Haaland has managed to achieve across the last four years.
And he asked whether he is the best ever seen in the top-flight, with Deeney replying: “Not yet no. All of the stuff there is brilliant.
“When you start to have this conversation, it’s always good to say that he is a freak… I also think there’s still a long way to go.
“My top five at the moment is: Thierry Henry at one, Wayne Rooney at two, Alan Shearer at three, Andy Cole at four and then fifth, it depends.
“Fifth is always changing… it goes between Harry Kane, Jermain Defoe, Sergio Aguero, Robbie Fowler, Luis Suarez.
“I’ve got ten… Haaland’s not in there, not yet, no.”
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Goldstein then questioned: “He’s tops every single list and he’s not in your top 10 Premier League strikers?”
And Deeney went on to explain: “A lot of it for me is about feeling as well, what those players made you feel when you watched them.
“Henry, you watched him and you were like ‘Wow’, you’d never seen anyone that quick, he had that finish into the bottom corner.
“Rooney, as a kid, he was one of the best players I’d ever seen, he could do it all… Shearer, it’s obviously goals.
“Cole is the most disrespected striker in Premier League history. He’s never in anybody else’s top 10… he scored over 180 goals.
“Defoe did it for so many years, Aguero was unbelievable… I think [I’d put him above Haaland].”
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What more has Haaland got to do to get in?
So, if Haaland isn’t in the top 10 greatest ever Premier League strikers now, how does he make his way into the list?
Deeney said: “I think this season is going to be really interesting.
“The seasons he’s been at City, they have been unbelievable anyway and he’s been a piece to that, an additional piece.
“It’ll be interesting now they’re not favourites to win it. Can he carry the team a little bit?”
He added: “I’d like to see him drag this team forward… when he played against Arsenal, against Gabriel, I was like ‘wow’.
“He dragged the team to win that game, I’d like to see that more.”
