Erling Haaland justifies price tag: His stunning campaign in detail

Erling Haaland finished his debut Manchester City season with 52 goals to his name.

The Norway international finished on a run of just one goal in eight games but had already more than justified his bargain £51million price tag.

Here, the PA news agency looks at his stunning campaign in detail.

Premier League

What an achievement pic.twitter.com/0EaDJvJCvK

— Premier League (@premierleague) May 28, 2023

Haaland’s 36 goals were a Premier League record, even including the early 42-game seasons.

Andy Cole and Alan Shearer shared the previous high of 34, with Mohamed Salah’s 32 topping the charts for a 38-game campaign, before Haaland rewrote the records.

He scored in seven straight league games from August to October – his third to his ninth appearances in the competition – with hat-tricks against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United helping him to 13 goals in those games and 18 in a 10-match scoring run in all competitions.

A fourth treble against Wolves in January left him one behind Shearer’s record of five in a season while he also had five doubles – against West Ham, Brighton, Leeds, Southampton and Leicester – and scored in 23 of his 35 appearances.

He scored against 16 different opponents, the exceptions being Chelsea – the only team to stop him in a pair of league appearances – Liverpool and Brentford.

Champions League

This season’s #UCL top scorer… @ErlingHaaland! #ManCity | #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/oxDVwXDnXD

— Manchester City (@ManCity) June 10, 2023

Haaland arrived in Manchester with 23 Champions League goals to his name in 19 appearances for RB Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund, and has maintained that form.

He netted group-stage doubles against Sevilla and FC Copenhagen, either side of a goal against Dortmund, and Pep Guardiola could afford to largely rest his star man for the return fixtures save for a scoreless first-half run-out on his old stomping ground in Germany.

He was quiet in a drawn first leg against RB Leipzig but more than made up for it in the return fixture, equalling the competition record of five goals in a game as City won 7-0 and 8-1 on aggregate.

Goals in both legs against Bayern Munich took him to a dozen for the European season, though Real Madrid and Inter Milan kept him quiet even as City won their semi-final and final.

Domestic cups

FA Cup UCL Premier League pic.twitter.com/omgJACPGzB

— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 18, 2023

Haaland’s first FA Cup goals came with a hat-trick in the 6-0 quarter-final win over Burnley, having sat out the clash with Chelsea and not scored against Arsenal.

He was not required to produce any heroics in the semi-final or final, won respectively by a Riyad Mahrez hat-trick and an Ilkay Gundogan brace.

Haaland was shut out by Liverpool in the Community Shield but did score against them in the Carabao Cup, giving him four goals in seven cup appearances.