Haaland just a goal merchant? Man City ace EQUALS Man Utd legend's assist record

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 27 Apr 2023 14:45 BST
• 3 min read

Erling Haaland's scoring feats are stealing all the headlines, but Manchester City's goal-machine has also matched Manchester United legend Paul Scholes' single season assist record.

Haaland bagged his 33rd goal of the Premier League campaign - and 49th in all competitions - as Man City beat league leaders Arsenal 4-1 at the Etihad on Wednesday.

The Norwegian has made a mockery of the €60 million fee City paid Borussia Dortmund for his services last summer, and has seven games left to smash the Premier League's single season goal record (34) - set by Andy Cole then Alan Shearer nearly 30 years ago.

READ: Eight records Haaland has SMASHED this season

Haaland a maker as well as taker

But Haaland also teed up both of Kevin De Bruyne's goals in the Arsenal game, and now has seven for the season in England's top-flight, matching Scholes' record with United from the 1998/99 campaign, when the Red Devils won the continental treble.

Scholes became a midfield metronome as his career progressed, a player who dictated play as often as playing the final pass, and it is with good reason he was the most mentioned player in Sir Alex Ferguson's 2013 autobiography.

But while this isn't meant as a criticism of a Man Utd great, it does highlight how one-dimensional Erling Haaland isn't.

READ: 'Messi and Ronaldo are finished, Haaland deserves 2023 Ballon d'Or'

It has often been levelled at Haaland that he is simply a great scorer of goals, or worse, a tap-in merchant, but to have matched Scholes' single season best for assists with 630 minutes of Premier League football left to play throws light on how wrong that appraisal is.

Haaland used every inch of his 6'4" frame to hold the ball up and play De Buyne through for the Belgian's opener against Arsenal, and showed good awareness for his second and his side's third.

Now valued at €141.1 million per FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, it will likely take a world record fee for Real Madrid or anyone else to prise Haaland away from the Etihad at the height of his career, and with good reason. He is a complete striker.