Rio Ferdinand says Erling Haaland’s mission to break scoring records this season will be aided by the fact he will be resting for the duration of the World Cup.
Haaland's native Norway failed to qualify for Qatar 2022, meaning Manchester City ’s clinical striker will not be match-weary when the Premier League resumes in late December. Haaland’s brace against Sevilla in the Champions League on Tuesday took his season tally up to 12 after just seven games.
His amazing start to life at the Etihad has made him firm favourite for the Premier League and Champions League golden boot. Haaland's midweek double already saw him become the fastest player to rack up 25 goals in the competition (in 20 games), and many are predicting him to break the English top-flight season record too.
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This stands at 32 for a 38-game season — a record currently held by Mo Salah for his 2017/18 haul — and 34 for the old 42-game campaign, a feat owned by both Andy Cole and Alan Shearer. And Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves and Joleon Lescott all believe haaland will bag over 40 goals overall and could well break the Premier League record in the process.
Ferdinand said the break during the World Cup will help the City star set new highs this term. He told BT Sport: “He [ Haaland ] is not going to the World Cup, so in his mind coming out of the World Cup, he is going to be rested.
“Surely he will believe that he… will have the best opportunity of getting more goals and give him the best opportunity of reaching those numbers in the Premier League and in the other competitions.”
Lescott added that the only thing that can stop 22-year-old Haaland reaching the Premier League record is the reduced game time he may receive later in the season if Pep Guardiola decides to rest him more often should the title be wrapped up and the Champions League become a priority.
He added: “I think he can keep up the ratio, I just don’t know about the games because I have said numerous times, when it comes to the second half of the season, the league potentially is not as important as it could be wrapped up and then it is the semi-finals of the Champions League.
“We saw today he came off after 60 minutes, yeah he is not going to score a hat-trick in every game, but he came off with two goals. Does he score more if he stays on? Of course he does but Pep is already thinking about the next game because this one is won.”
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