Simon Jordan believes Erling Haaland will knock Alan Shearer of his throne as the Premier League’s record goalscorer.
However, the talkSPORT pundit also hinted that he may not have the same longevity as the legendary Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Haaland extended his incredible Manchester City goal tally to 103 in 110 appearances on Wednesday night with a double against Sparta Prague.
The Norwegian now has 44 Champions League goals to his name in just two more outings, a record that will take some beating.
Speaking on White and Jordan, Jim White suggested that we may never have seen a player as sensational as Haaland, but Jordan said: “I think we have.
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“We’ve seen people that have scored lots and lots of goals and ultimately over his career, Ronaldo’s almost scored a goal a game, hasn’t he? Everywhere he’s gone, and that’s remarkable. Haaland is a remarkable goalscorer.
“I think there are other aspects of his game that he would concede probably need working on and improving on. But at this stage, 24 years of age now. Scoring the kind of goals [he scores], playing in a side…
“He mustn’t lose sight of the fact that he’s also playing in a remarkable side, that creates the fear of God all over the pitch to the opposition. So that fact that Haaland is like this huge, great, big shark head of the Manchester City offensive.”
Haaland has 73 goals in 74 Premier League appearances since signing for City in 2022 and there is a wide belief he could become the competition’s record scorer.
Newcastle legend Shearer holds the title with 260 goals but Jordan thinks he’ll lose the crown to the current goalscoring machine if he stays in England.
“Haaland is a remarkable phenomenon,” he added. “He is an insatiable goalscorer that can score goals pretty much from anywhere, and I think he should be given all the plaudits that he deserves.
“Because ultimately if you score this amount of goals, he’s gonna smash them all [goalscoring records]. If he stays in English football, Alan Shearer’s 260-goal Premier League record is gonna be dust.”
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White then posed the sentiment from fans who were sending messages into the show, that Haaland is great goalscorer, but not a great footballer.
“Well I think there’s probably something to be said there,” Jordan said in response.
“Was Gerd ‘Der Bomber’ Muller [Germany legend] a great footballer? Probably not, but he was a great goalscorer. I would say Jimmy Greaves was both, he was a great footballer and a great goalscorer.”
He later added: “Look, I think there’s some salience to that. I do think that he’s a great goalscorer but part of being a good footballer is an ability to score a goal, so it’s difficult to separate.
“Can he do the things that Messi and Ronaldo can do? Can he take on players, create space, control the flow of a game and create outcomes on his own? No, he needs to be fed.”
Haaland didn’t have the most touches of the ball against Sparta Prague but given he’s City’s striker, Jordan does not believe that this metric is too important for him.
“I mean, some of the people were criticising his link-up play and the fact that he does certain things, but what do you want your centre-forward to do?
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“If my centre-forward’s going to have six touches a game and score three goals, I’ll have that centre-forward every day of the week, because that’s their job. The idea that he can do other things…
“Manchester City have got an embarrassment of riches in players that can do other things that creates the space and the opportunity for Haaland to operate in. He did this at Dortmund… So he was prolific at Dortmund, so it isn’t just Manchester City that he scored goals at.”
Jordan claimed Haaland would get into any team in the world and would play for every country if he was eligible.
It’s clear the 24-year-old is world-class and will likely remain so for the rest of his career, but Jordan raised doubts about whether or not he could go on for as long as Messi and Ronaldo.
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Messi is 37 and continues to score goals for fun for at Argentina and Inter Miami, with the 39-year-old Ronaldo also still prolific with Portugal and Al Nassr.
But Haaland’s physicality may impact his ability to play at these ages as Jordan explained: “Well… Messi’s a slightly more diminutive player isn’t he, and Ronaldo’s built differently. I mean, Haaland is a specimen isn’t he?
“He’s a physical lump, he is an absolute beast of a boy in terms of physicality. So that might create an impact on him structurally over the years.
“If he looks after himself, given the size of build of him, you would think that he’s not going to be playing when he’s 37, 38 years old.”
He added: “When you compare him to the goalscorers of the past, he is a world-class operator. When you talk about somebody who can grab the game by the scruff of its neck and change the direction of travel, he can do that if someone else is giving him the ball.”
