Players who reached 20 Premier League goals the fastest
By Euan Burns
Get used to this. Erling Haaland has broken another Premier League record. Not only has he broken it, he has absolutely smashed it.
During Manchester City's 3-1 win away at Leeds United on Wednesday night, the Norwegian became the player to reach 20 Premier League goals sooner than anyone else. He has achieved the feat in 14 games. It is abundantly clear that barring a serious injury, Haaland will win the Golden Boot in 2022/23.
He has taken to the Premier League without breaking stride, but who has he beaten to the top of this particular record?
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Erling Haaland - 14 games
At the conclusion of Man City's 3-1 victory over Leeds in December, they had scored 43 goals in 15 Premier League games. Erling Haaland contributed 20 of those, having featured in all but one of their league games so far this season.
The Norwegian has had no issues adapting to a new league and is scoring at an astonishing rate.
Kevin Phillips - 21 games
The ultimate English football journeyman. Younger fans may think of him as being that guy who kept playing until he was 40 years old, but back in the day, Phillips was a prolific striker who has proudly held this record for many years until Haaland came along.
In the 1999/00 season, Phillips won the Golden Boot and scored 30 goals for Sunderland. It took him 21 games to reach the milestone of 20 goals.
Andy Cole - 23 games
Next on the list is Andy Cole, who is fourth on the all-time Premier League scorers list, but needed 23 games to reach 20 Premier League goals. The goals came in the first-ever Premier League season in 1993/94 after Cole had already been at Newcastle United for a few months. He scored 34 goals in 40 matches that season in all competitions.
Ruud van Nistelrooy - 26 games
Ruud van Nistelrooy joined Manchester United from PSV Eindhoven for the 2001/02 season and it took him just 26 games to reach the 20-goal milestone. He was a key player for United for a handful of seasons before moving on to Real Madrid in 2006.
Diego Costa - 26 games
Diego Costa arrived at Chelsea with a bang in 2014 and quickly became one of the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League. He only needed 26 games to reach 20 goals for the Blues and helped them win the title and the League Cup in the 2014/15 season.
Tony Yeboah - 26 games
Yet another player who needed 26 games to reach the milestone of 20 Premier League goals is Tony Yeboah. He joined Leeds United in January 1995 and quickly became a fan favourite and is still revered as a club legend today. He joined from Eintracht Frankfurt for £3.4m.
Fernando Torres - 27 games
Fernando Torres is another player who was signed from Atletico Madrid by a Premier League club. He joined Liverpool in 2007 and immediately hit the ground running, quickly becoming a vital player in the squad. Unfortunately, his move to Chelsea did not yield such results.
Alan Shearer - 29 games
The all-time Premier League top goalscorer needed 29 matches to get to the 20-goal mark with Blackburn Rovers in the very first Premier League season. Shearer is more fondly remembered in Lancashire for helping Blackburn to the Premier League title a couple of seasons later and would eventually join boyhood club Newcastle.
Sergio Aguero - 30 games
Another Premier League legend, and the third former Atletico Madrid star on the list. Aguero joined Manchester City in 2011 when he could have moved to one of Europe's biggest and most established clubs. He more than did his bit to turn City into a powerhouse, scoring 20 times in his first 30 games.