Erling Haaland's record-breaking debut season in the Premier League was underpinned by a burning obsession for the sport.
Pep Guardiola is hardly a relaxed individual and spoke in reverential tones when he gushed: "Haaland lives 24 hours for his profession, his work, his passion, what he loves."
In the immediate aftermath of the Champions League final, the greatest success of Haaland's career, he was already plotting a route of improvement.
"From when I signed from [Borussia] Dortmund to now there's such a big difference from so many things," he said. "From how I think after games, how I think before games, how I motivate myself, how I speak to others.
"You get experience through people and on the pitch. I agree - I can develop so much more."
After a record-breaking 52 goals across all competitions, including a Premier League-high 36, it's a frightening thought that Haaland could get even better in 2023/24. Yet, with that tunnel-vision mindset, you wouldn't put it past him.
What is the Premier League record for most goals scored in a season?
It may have pained Alan Shearer to lose one of his litany of Premier League scoring records but at least the Newcastle United icon saw it coming. In April 2022, two months before Haaland joined City for a desperately cheap £51.5m, Shearer wrote in The Athletic that the Nordic goal gobbler would rack up 40 a season.
Haaland didn't quite reach that tally but by finishing the season with 36 strikes, the 22-year-old broke the high watermark of 34 Premier League goals in a single campaign shared by Kane and Andrew Cole. The last player to score more than Haaland's 36 in a top-flight season of English football was Ron Davies for Southampton with 37 all the way back in 1966/67.
Shearer and Cole both struck 34 goals in the early 1990s when the league season was still 42 matches long. Mohamed Salah previously held the record for goals in a 38-game campaign, bettering the efforts of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez to notch 32 immediately after signing for Liverpool in 2017.
A miraculous maiden campaign has normalised Salah's consistent brilliance in subsequent years. Liverpool's talisman may not have come close to his record-breaking tally but he has scored at least 19 goals in each of the past five seasons - a feat no other player can match.
After an even better debut season, will Haaland suffer the same fate?
Will Erling Haaland break his own Premier League scoring record?
Adapting to Guardiola's myriad of tactical demands has been likened to learning a new language. Kalvin Phillips would not have been able to order anything in a restaurant after an injury-riddled debut season at Manchester City last term.
However, the former Leeds United midfielder found hope in past examples of slow starts under the Catalan coach.
"I spoke to quite a few of the players about it," Phillips revealed. "Nathan Ake being one. Jack [Grealish]. They all said the same: the first 12 months were the hardest of their City careers."
The likes of Riyad Mahrez, Rodri, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Joao Cancelo all noticeably improved after 12 months of study at Guardiola's school.
Haaland's self-improvement soliloquy after the Champions League final came after he asked Thierry Henry - the player with the most Premier League Golden Boots in the competition's history - for his advice. The former Arsenal striker was full of praise but conceded that Haaland could use his right foot more often - just 19 of his efforts on goal (15%) last term were with his weaker side.
Although, Henry warned that if Haaland did improve: "He will score 100 goals per week."
2023/24 Premier League Golden Boot contenders
As a three-time former winner of the award, Salah is likely to pose the biggest threat to Haaland in the scoring charts.
Fellow Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez was billed as the Norwegian's equivalent after his lucrative move to Merseyside last summer but only managed nine Premier League goals in his debut campaign - fewer than Nottingham Forest's Taiwo Awoniyi. However, the enigmatic Uruguayan did get into ample goalscoring positions; no regular averaged more than Nunez's 4.5 shots per 90 last term.
Despite only hitting top form after the winter World Cup, Marcus Rashford matched his career-best return for Premier League goals with 17 (less than half Haaland's haul). If the boyhood United fan can extend his scoring form across the entire campaign, he could post a new personal best.
Rashford, however, may be tasked with providing for Rasmus Hojlund rather than scoring himself. United's £72m arrival has already been incessantly compared to Haaland but has never come close to matching the outlandish figures posted by his fellow Scandinavian; Hojlund's nine Serie A goals for Atalanta last season represents the most prolific return of his young career - Haaland scored nine Premier League goals in August alone last term.
Much like Hojlund, Chelsea's marquee arrival Christopher Nkunku will miss the start of the season through injury. However, Nkunku has directly competed with Haaland for league goals as recently as the 2021/22 season; while Robert Lewandowski was crowned the Bundesliga top scorer, Haaland racked up 22 for Dortmund as Nkunku recorded 20 with RB Leipzig. Despite missing chunks of last term with injury, Nkunku finished as the division's joint-leading scorer in the absence of Lewandowski and Haaland.
Yet, without Bayern Munich-bound Harry Kane to provide competition in the Premier League, Haaland's quest for a second successive Golden Boot could become a procession.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Premier League top scorers 2023/24: Will Erling Haaland break his own record?.
