In his debut season, Erling Haaland scored 36 goals in one Premier League season- a feat even Cristiano Ronaldo failed to come close to. Since then, the Manchester City star has been pipped to become soccer’s top scorer, beating the likes of Ronaldo. But for that to happen, Haaland will have to go on a bizarre run spanning the coming 16 years of his career. Formerly of Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand, thinks he might just fall short.

In a recent episode of John Obi Mikel’s ‘The Obi One’ podcast, the hosts and Ferdinand discussed Haaland’s chances to overtake CR7. “For somebody to break his [Ronaldo] record, you have to, I mean, Haaland has to score 40 goals per season for 16 years,” said Obi Mikel, recalling he saw this stat in a beIN SPORTS video. Ferdinand quickly responded to the stat. “Not happening,” said the Manchester United legend, shutting down Haaland’s chances to be the greatest goal-machine.

Cristiano Ronaldo became the goalscorer he is by scoring more than 50 goals in a calendar year nine times. No player has ever managed to beat that record. Erling Haaland has become consistent in that respect since he moved to Manchester City. After starting strongly at Manchester City in 2022, the Norwegian netted an impressive 50 goals in 2023. He managed to register that feat before December, as he picked up an ankle injury that forced him out of the remaining matches. Even so, it is interesting to note how the 23-year-old ended up playing second fiddle to a 38-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo.

Soccer’s next big goal-machine Haaland fell short against an aging Cristiano Ronaldo

In the same podcast, Rio Ferdinand mentioned none of his Manchester United teammates thought Cristiano Ronaldo would become such a prolific goalscorer. Likewise, nobody ever thought Ronaldo would do what he did in 2023. The superstar scored a whopping 54 goals to beat Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe, and Erling Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot. The 54 goals come from CR7’s impressive outings with both Al Nassr and the Portugal national team. Speaking of his achievement, Ronaldo recently remarked he was immensely proud to beat “young animals like Haaland,” when he is nearing 39.

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The Portuguese skipper currently boasts 873 goals in his career. Erling Haaland, on the other hand, has 232 goals to his account. It is a great number for a 23-year-old. But only time will tell if Haaland has the same longevity as Ronaldo to become his successor at the top one day. Speaking of longevity, CR7 even hinted he will play in his 40s. And so, it will become all the more a struggle for the Norwegian to become the all-time scoring leader.

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