Erling Haaland is clearly not just intent on upstaging the likes of Alan Shearer as his scintillating debut season in the Premier League continues.
The Norwegian striker has already claimed the record for most goals scored in a single campaign (35), usurping previous record holders Shearer and Andy Cole (both 34), whilst also beating Mohamed Salah's tally (32) for a 38-game season.
And Haaland is now taking on the Premier League providers after contributing his eighth assist of the season, setting up Phil Foden's opening goal in Manchester City's clash with Brighton on Wednesday. Despite not being renowned for supplying the chances for his teammates, his tally has already seen him surpass Paul Scholes' best-ever haul of assists from his glittering career.
The Manchester United legend is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders to grace the Premier League. While the latter years of Scholes' career were largely spent as a holding midfielder, his earlier years were mainly in an advanced, attacking midfield role.
It was from there which Scholes managed to provide a personal best seven assists in the 1998/99 season - ironically the year United landed the Treble which Man City are now aiming to replicate.
Haaland is still trailing the leading assist-makers in the division by some distance - with teammate Kevin De Bruyne way out in front on 16 - but his contribution further underlines his importance to City during an incredible first year in England.
Asked whether he had surpassed his own expectations during an interview with Sky Sports, Haaland said: "The goal was obviously to win the Premier League. They [City] had won it two years in a row, if I came in and suddenly we didn't win it, something would be wrong. That was the most important thing, as I always say, is to win trophies. That's what we did.
"Because I'm the striker I'm the one who should press first, who should score the goals because I'm in the box. But if I think of my targets or my goals, yeah I passed those, you could say so. I expected to be top scorer."
Both Scholes' former teammate Gary Neville and fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher agreed that Haaland was their player of the season. Neville said: "I felt like this player was a phenomenon when he came, you knew he was going to be special and what he’s done this season is out of this world.”
Carragher compared Haaland's scoring ratio to that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, while also hailing the 22-year-old for exceeding the likes of City legend Sergio Aguero. "That just shows he’s an absolute freak," Carragher said. "He’s a special player and I think these records are going to continue to be broken.”
