Erling Haaland continued his stunning form at the weekend, hitting a devastating hat-trick against West Ham United for Manchester City.
Haaland has flown out of the traps in 2024/25 after a summer of rest, and has hit seven goals in his first three league games.
The Norwegian goal machine has produced some stunning finishes, and many believe he could already be on course for another record-breaking season.
Inevitably, there has been a lot of chat about Haaland over the past few days.
Various debates are taking place about him, including where he places in terms of Premier League strikers of the past.
For Jermaine Pennant, Haaland is the most clinical striker ever to set foot in the English top-flight – but he did offer two better ‘all-round’ strikers than the Manchester City number nine.
Jermaine Pennant claims Erling Haaland isn’t as good a player as Sergio Aguero or Thierry Henry
Haaland’s goalscoring prowess is truly unrivalled at this point.
The numbers to date are simply incredible. For City, it’s 97 goals in just 102 appearances and so far at club level, he’s bagged 232 in 285 appearances across stints with Bryne, Molde, Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and City.
He also has 31 in 33 caps for Norway.
Haaland – who Owen Hargreaves suggested this week is even a bit like NBA legend Michael Jordan – is simply lethal, and there is genuinely now a strong case for him being seen as the most clinical striker the Premier League has ever seen.
Pennant supports that argument. But he does not feel Haaland is the best ‘all-round’ striker we have seen, stating that Sergio Aguero and Thierry Henry are both ahead of him in that regard.
He said on talkSPORT yesterday: “Yes he’s the most prolific. But is he the best striker ‘player’ we’ve seen? I wouldn’t say so. I would say Aguero, probably Henry, as a player, what they’ve produced. Dropping off, assists, the way they play, going past players, hold-up play.
“I think there’s better players in that area than Haaland.
“As a player, with the ability to go past defenders like we’ve seen strikers in the past, he’s not up there on that level. But as a goalscorer, there’s no one close to him.”
Pennant later went on to choose Aguero over Haaland in a game of ‘winning player stays on’. He also chose Aguero over Harry Kane, Luis Suarez, Andrew Cole, Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer, before finally choosing Henry as his ultimate all-round striker.
Haaland has time to develop his game
Haaland is an incredible goalscorer. But many do still suggest that he can improve other aspects of his game.
But there is still so much time for him to develop into a better ‘all-round’ footballer.
We have already seen this season that Haaland is linking up even better with his teammates. His interplay with Ilkay Gundogan towards the end of the Ipswich game was a little glimpse of that.
Pennant is right to argue Aguero and Henry were both better ‘all-round’ strikers than Haaland. They were both more technical and were better outside of the penalty area.
But no one should put it past Haaland to reach their level in this area someday.
