Erling Haaland has taken the Premier League by storm. Of that there is no doubt. So far this season, in all competitions, he has 20 goals in just 14 appearances for Manchester City and looks likely to break every goalscoring record going.
But before Haaland came Kevin Phillips. The last Englishman to win the European Golden Boot scored 30 Premier League goals in just 36 matches in the 1999-00 season, giving him a higher goals per game ratio for one campaign than fellow Golden Boot winners Sergio Aguero, Didier Drogba and Thierry Henry.
He’s a Sunderland and Premier League legend, but even he has been left amazed by the Norwegian’s feats so far this campaign. “It is nothing short of incredible,” he says to The Sportsman. “I read a comment not long ago that someone said, ‘Is he an actual robot?’ Is he a human? Because he's a phenomenal player and any aspiring young centre forward that wants to get better and wants to play in the Premier League just sit and watch,because he's got everything to his game.
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“He's got everything, he's an absolutely incredible striker. I feel blessed and I think everyone does that, certainly at my age and the era that I played in, I've been able to watch some of the best players the world's ever seen up close and personal and at the minute we've got one on our hands now that we can all enjoy watching and of course he plays in a team where he gets chances left right and centre.
“But I think you could put him in any team in the world, a struggling team and he'd still score goals and that just shows you the calibre of the player. Because he can create his own opportunities so yeah it's nothing short of a miracle what he's doing. I for one want to see him stay fit, I want to watch him play in every game and it's almost like a bit of a letdown when he doesn't start. But you know if he continues at the rate he is there's absolutely no stopping him, or what he can achieve this season.”
Phillips is now manager of South Shields, who dramatically beat National League side Scunthorpe United to book their place in the First Round Proper of the FA Cup. He only took the job in January but now has his eyes set on promotion at the ambitious seventh tier club that are desperate to get into the Football League.
He’s at the very start of his managerial career, but his playing career saw him adored at several top clubs. He scored goals at Sunderland and Southampton, Birmingham and Blackpool, Watford and West Brom - finishing his career with 246 goals in 580 games - so how many goals does the former England international think he would get for this dominant Man City team?
“I back myself. I got 30 and I missed three penalties that season as well!” he tells the Sportsman. “So it could have been more but I would back myself in my heyday and I think any top striker, Shearer and Owen and Fowler - all those top strikers back then you would have to set a target of 40 goals plus, as long as you stay injury free and the appetite was there. And it would be because why wouldn't it be?
“Because the managers now demand that the players are fitter and stronger. So I would back myself to get close to 40. That's for sure, and, when I do see Man City play, I just think any ex-striker would love to be up front in that team just purely because of the chances that you get!”
