Erling Haaland (foto: Getty Images)
Despite winning three Golden Boots and scoring 112 Premier League goals, Erling Haaland has been left out of Troy Deeney's list of the league's greatest strikers.
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Erling Haaland has shattered records since arriving at Manchester City, but former Watford captain Troy Deeney believes the Norwegian is still not among the greatest strikers in Premier League history.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Deeney left the 41-year-old out of his all-time top 10 Premier League forwards, despite Haaland scoring 112 goals in his first four seasons in England.
Haaland arrived at Manchester City in 2022 and immediately rewrote the record books, scoring 36 league goals in his debut campaign, the highest total ever recorded in a single Premier League season. He has since followed that with seasons of 27, 22 and 27 league goals, winning three Golden Boots in four years.
Even those achievements were not enough to convince Deeney.
"He is a freak... I also think there's still a long way to go. Haaland's not in there, not yet, no. A lot of it for me is about feeling as well, what players made you feel when you watched them," Deeney said.
The former striker believes the coming season will be an important test for Haaland.
"I think this season is going to be really interesting. The seasons he's been at City have been unbelievable anyway, and he's been a piece of that, an additional piece. It'll be interesting now they're not favourites to win it."
"Can he carry the team a little bit? I'd like to see him drag this team forward. When he played against Arsenal, against Gabriel, I was like 'wow'. He dragged the team to win that game. I'd like to see that more," Deeney added.
Instead of Haaland, Deeney placed Thierry Henry at the top of his rankings, followed by Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer. He named Andy Cole fourth, while Harry Kane, Sergio Agüero, Luis Suárez, Robbie Fowler and Jermain Defoe also made his list.
Explaining his choices, Deeney said:
"Henry, you watched him, and you were like 'wow', you'd never seen anyone that quick. He had that finish into the bottom corner. Rooney, as a kid, he was one of the best players I'd ever seen. He could do it all."
"Shearer, it's obviously goals. Cole is the most disrespected striker in Premier League history. He's never in anyone else's top 10. He scored over 180 goals. Defoe did it for so many years, Aguero was unbelievable."
Interestingly, Deeney only named nine players, leaving the final place vacant rather than giving it to Haaland.
Despite the omission, Haaland's numbers already place him among the Premier League's most prolific scorers. The Norwegian has also recorded eight Premier League hat-tricks, with only Alan Shearer, Robbie Fowler and Sergio Agüero having scored more.