Alan Shearer gave a simple explanation as to why he placed Erling Haaland fourth in a blind ranking of five of the Premier League's best-ever strikers, with the Newcastle legend picking himself as both top and bottom of such a list. The Norwegian sensation has taken England's top flight by storm since joining Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
Haaland's ludicrous Premier League goal ratio
Haaland has scored goals at a ridiculous rate throughout a career that has taken him from Bryne and Molde in Norway, to Austria with Red Bull Salzburg, across the German border to Dortmund and now back to the country of his birth with City. He is on the verge of joining the ‘Premier League 100 Club’ having already found the back of the net 93 times in 103 appearances.
However, despite this impressive feat, Shearer used Haaland’s relatively short spell in England against him during Topps FC’s blind ranking of iconic Premier League strikers, telling GOAL Global this was the reason behind being dropped to fourth position.
AdvertisementWatch the clipGetty Images SportShearer's reason behind picking Drogba over Haaland
The first striker put to Shearer was Chelsea hero Didier Drogba, which prompted a reply of, "I’m hoping that you’ve got some absolute superstars on there, so I’m going to say three." Directly after the Ivorian was Haaland, and longevity was the explanation behind Shearer’s ranking: "He hasn’t been here as long, so I’m going to say four."
Without hesitation nor comment, Shearer placed Thierry Henry at No.1 and Mohamed Salah as the runner up. The last striker up was Shearer himself, to which he retorted: "There you go, I’m happy, I’ll put myself in fifth."
However, clearly the ex-Blackburn forward wasn’t too ‘happy’ with the final ranking. When asked if he wanted to make any changes to his order, Shearer laughed and replied: "In my prime, I might put myself one."
Could Haaland break Shearer's Premier League record?
Haaland is actually close to surpassing Drogba’s Premier League goals tally. In 254 matches for Chelsea, Drogba scored 104 times, meaning the City striker needs only 12 more goals to leapfrog him in the all-time standings.
Shearer is still well respected as not only one of England’s best strikers of all time, but as the Premier League’s leading scorer since its inception in 1992, scoring 260 goals across stints with Southampton, Blackburn and Newcastle. Haaland has been backed to be the man to relieve Shearer’s grip on top spot.
Back in January, Shearer said to BBC Sport: "If he stays for that long, no doubt he will break that record. My record will go one day. It might be somebody else's by then – like Harry Kane or Mohamed Salah. There were great goalscorers before I was born that have incredible records as well. My record will go one day, I'm sure of that."