Manchester City's Erling Haaland has over 30 goals this season... and it's still January

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With his hat-trick against Wolves on Sunday, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has now scored over 30 goals this season

Erling Haaland celebrates one of his goals for Manchester City against Wolves in the Premier League in January 2023.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has scored more goals than last season's Golden Boot winners Mohamed Salah and Heung-min Son following his hat-trick against Wolves in the Premier League on Sunday.

Haaland opened the scoring with a towering header from a Kevin De Bruyne cross after 40 minutes at the Etihad and doubled the champions' lead from the penalty spot early in the second half.

The Norwegian then completed his hat-trick after 54 minutes, when Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa passed the ball straight to Riyad Mahrez and the Algerian put his team-mate in for a simple finish.

With 61 minutes on the clock, Haaland went off to an ovation from the City fans and was replaced by Argentina striker Julian Alvarez.

It is still January and Haaland has 31 goals in all competitions already  in 2022-23.

In the Premier League, he has already overtaken last season's Golden Boot winners Salah and Son.

Haaland averages a goal every 59.6 minutes in the Premier League this season. By comparison, Salah scored one every 120 minutes last term, while Son needed 131.2 per goal.

It was the Norwegian's fourth Premier League hat-trick in just over half a season. He has more trebles already than Cristiano Ronaldo and as many as Salah. One more this term will see him draw level with the record of five, set by Alan Shearer at Blackburn in 1995-96.

While City were playing their 20th match, it was Haaland's 19th in the competition this season. He now has 25 Premier League goals in that time and 31 overall in just 26 appearances.

At that rate, he is on course to score close to 50 in the Premier League and over 60 in total. What a signing.

Ben Hayward
Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.