Premier League: Erling Haaland: How does he compare to other greats at 22?

The Norwegian striker has already scored 17 goals from 11 matches for Manchester City across all competitions, and Pep Guardiola believes he will get even better. Erling Haaland is the leading goalscorer of the ongoing Premier League, five goals ahead of Harry Kane and Aleksandar Mitrovic in the second place.

Erling Haaland is on track to become one of the top goalscorers, having already recorded a staggering tally of 152 clubs and 21 international goals. 

Let's take a look at where Erling Haaland stands in comparison to three legendary strikers of the same age

Cristiano Ronaldo

Erling Haaland's all-time goal tally stands at 173 goals, 123 more than Cristiano Ronaldo at 22. The Portuguese legend also finished as the runner-up to Kaka for the world's best footballer award and was a season away from winning his first Ballon d'Or.

However, the career trajectory of Erling Haaland is going in the same direction as Cristiano Ronaldo as both of them shot to fame after making a move to Premier League.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is the top goalscorer in La Liga with 311 goals and the record holder for the most hat tricks with 36. The Argentinian forward is also the top goalscorer for Argentina, with 90 goals from 164 matches.

He was nowhere close to Erling Haaland with just 44 goals from 112 matches from Barcelona at 22 compared to 173 by Haaland. 

However, he exploded as the goalkeeper next year, scoring 628 goals from his next 666 matches for Barcelona and winning his first Ballon d'Or at the age of 23.

After Erling Haaland's debut, Pep Guardiola said, "Haaland can be a better player than Messi is. He can have the will to do it. He likes football. I have never seen a player who is 21 or 22 years old - maybe Messi, he was already advanced, but the rest are never finished and always you can improve."

Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski was relatively not very well known at Erling Haaland's age. He was a rising star in Polish football, scoring 21 goals in 32 matches for second-division side Znicz Pruslow before adding 41 more goals in his next 82 games for Lech Poznan.

Sam Allardyce saw his potential in 2010 and tried to bring him to Blackburn Rovers, but the deal fell through. 

The Polish striker then moved to Haaland's former club Borussia Dortmund and helped them win back-to-back Bundesliga titles before moving to Bayern Munich.