Erling Haaland gives Premier League defenders nightmares - and Man City's PFA Award-winning monster is only just getting started

When Haaland spoke to Shearer he had just had a disappointing debut in English football, failing to score in the Community Shield defeat by Liverpool and missing two big chances in the space of 30 seconds. Some had already began to question whether the Norwegian would be as prolific with City as he had been with Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Salzburg, with whom he had averaged more than a goal per game.

City's all-time top scorer Sergio Aguero was quick to weigh in. "He was too used to Germany," Aguero said. "Haaland thought he was alone, then Virgil van Dijk arrived and said, 'Welcome to the Premier League'."

The very next week, Haaland had his own welcome to the Premier League, scoring twice in his proper debut against West Ham. He got off the mark by winning a penalty with his quick feet and then slamming the ball into the bottom corner from the spot. He celebrated it with a meditation pose, as if to say that amid all the pressure of joining the most competitive league in the world, he was as calm as could be. His second goal showcased his clever movement off the ball, his speed and his ruthless finishing.

Everyone expected Haaland to fill his boots in his first home game against Bournemouth, but he failed to score in the 4-0 win. Not to worry. He was back amongst the goals against Newcastle, and then hit back-to-back hat-tricks against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, vindicating his words to Shearer.

Haaland's first season in England was a dream for City fans, but his arrival was also a boon for the Premier League. Many great strikers have graced the English top-flight, but lately the league has been dominated by wide forwards such as Mohamed Salah, Bukayo Saka or Eden Hazard, or deep-lying forwards such as Harry Kane.

Haaland is a throwback to another era, and as he continued to plunder goals for fun, each match he played had an extra layer of fascination. 'Just how many will he score today?' was what many would wonder before each City match.

In one match, against RB Leipzig, he scored five and, had Pep Guardiola not substituted him in the 63rd minute, he could well have made Champions League history by becoming the first player to score a double hat-trick.

Even though the sight of Haaland scoring became so routine, the numbers he put up look no less astonishing, provoking a double-take each time you look at them. He finished the season with 52 goals in all competitions from 53 matches. He only started 50 of them.

He finished top scorer in both the Premier League and Champions League, averaging a goal every 77 minutes in both competitions. His 36 strikes in the Premier League saw him break the record for most goals in a season, one that had stood for 28 years.

And unlike Andy Cole and Shearer, who shared that record for scoring 34 times in a campaign, he had four fewer games to work with, as they hit their milestones when there were 42 matches in a season.

Shearer and Cole were not the only Premier League legends that Haaland cut down to size. By October, he had become the fastest player to score three Premier League hat-tricks, doing so in eight games. The previous record holder was Michael Owen, who needed 48 games to reach the milestone for Liverpool.

By the end of February he had scored 27 league goals, breaking Aguero's record for the most goals in a Premier League season for City.

"It is just getting silly now, even his team-mates look slightly embarrassed every time he scores," said Peter Crouch. "It’s slightly embarrassing when we talk about stats and records, he’s breaking them all the time, it is ridiculous."

With a footballer for a father and a heptathlete mother, Haaland has been blessed with the ideal genetics. As Shearer put it in the book Greastest Goalscorers: "If you were going to build the perfect centre-forward, then you would build one who is quick, build one who is good in the air, build one with a very good first touch, build one with movement and one who can use their left or right feet. Haaland has all of these attributes."

But Haaland is not just a freak of nature. From his diet to his sleep pattern through to his post-match massage routine, the Norwegian's daily regime is meticulously planned. He consumes around 6,000 calories per day (adult men are supposed to consume around 2,500) and takes eating deadly seriously. International team-mate Joshua King said: "He eats like a bear!"

Haaland's social media posts about eating cows hearts and chicken livers have gone viral, but he also loves Norwegian salmon, which City import at his request. He likes to only drink filtered water if he can, as well as drinking plenty of milk, which he calls "my magic potion".

Haaland is also passionate about getting a good night's sleep. He turns off his technological devices long before he climbs into bed, wearing silk pyjamas and orange, blue-light glasses which hide natural light. He also puts an Oura ring on his finger to measure the quality of his sleep and heart rate.

Given the fact Haaland only recently turned 23 and takes such good care of himself, there is little reason why he cannot break even more records, as long as he avoids injury and stays at City.

In Pep Guardiola, he has the ideal coach and a supporting cast of super-talented players who love playing with him and are ready to sacrifice their own goal tallies to help him score as often as possible. Shearer, who has already lost his single-season scoring record to Haaland, should be very afraid of his status as the Premier League's all-time top scorer.

Haaland quickly showed that last season was no fluke by scoring within four minutes on the opening day of this season against Burnley. Three games into the season, he has three goals, having brushed off the fact he missed a first-half penalty against Sheffield United to score a towering header in the 2-1 win.

City now have three wins out of three and it will not be easy to take their Premier League title off them, especially with Haaland around. One gets the impression he has not lifted his last league title or his last Golden Boot. And this PFA award, the highest individual accolade in English football, is unlikely to be this goalscoring monster's last.