Erling Haaland makes more history as Man City superstar clinches Premier League awards double
The prolific Norwegian striker was named as the top-flight’s official Player of the Season on the eve of the final day of the 2022-23 campaign, before also picking up the Young Player award just hours later.
He is the first player ever to have completed such a feat in the same year, having seen off competition from team-mate Kevin De Bruyne, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Kieran Trippier for the main award.
Saka, Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Alexis Mac Allister, Moises Caicedo, Sven Botman and Alexander Isak were the other nominees for young player.
Such recognition is just reward for what has been an incredible debut term for Haaland – also named as the Football Writers Association (FWA) Mens Footballer of the Year this week – in English football following a £51million transfer from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
The 22-year-old has smashed all manner of scoring records on an almost weekly basis, netting 36 goals in just 35 League games so far and a frankly ridiculous 52 in 51 across all competitions, including 12 in 10 in the Champions League.
Haaland is the first player from the English top-flight to score 50 or more goals in a single season for some 92 years, with his sensational exploits seeing Pep Guardiola’s dominant City move to the brink of potentially matching the Manchester United heroes of 1998-99 with a historic trophy Treble.
City clawed back an eight-point deficit from Arsenal to clinch a fifth League title in six seasons with a game to spare last weekend, while they also face rivals United in an all-Manchester FA Cup final showdown at Wembley next Saturday.
Inter Milan then lie in wait in the Champions League showpiece in Istanbul on June 10 after the semi-final demolition of holders Real Madrid, with a trip to Brentford to come on the final day of the League season on Sunday.
Haaland also looks a shoo-in to clean up at the forthcoming PFA awards and will surely be a huge favourite for this year’s Ballon d’Or honour too.
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