Erling Haaland was on the losing side when he came up against Darwin Nunez at the Under-20 World Cup - but responded by scoring nine goals in a single game to walk away with the Golden Boot.
It’s that kind of ruthlessness that has seen Manchester City ’s new £51million striker heavily backed to finish next season as the Premier League ’s top goalscorer. Haaland is already 4/1 favourite to finish top of the finishers’ pile with bookmakers Betfair, ahead of current Golden Boot holders Mo Salah and Son Heung-min as well as Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nunez.
In fact, more than 40 percent of the wagers Betfair have taken on the race for goals have been placed on Haaland. Nunez is a relative outsider at 14/1.
And Haaland was given a close-up view of how good Liverpool ’s new £85million forward is when the pair played against each other for the only time when his Norway team faced Uruguay in the junior World Cup in Poland two years ago. The South Americans prevailed 3-1 in the group stages - with Nunez scoring his nation’s opening goal in the city of Lodz.
Haaland failed to score that day - and drew a blank in the next game as Norway were knocked out after suffering a shock 2-0 defeat at the hands of New Zealand. But Haaland still made sure he was the talk of the tournament in the final group game when he hammered an incredible three hat-tricks as his team humiliated Honduras 12-0 in their final game. The last of his trebles came inside 13 minutes.
The Golden Boot was Haaland’s - and by a considerable margin. He finished the tournament with five more goals than any other player - despite scoring in just a single game.
Nunez scored again in Uruguay’s final group game, a 2-0 victory over New Zealand which saw his country top the standings. But the South Americans lost 3-1 to Ecuador in the round of 16 in a tournament eventually won by Ukraine after a 3-1 win over South Korea.
Haaland, 21, was a teenager playing for Red Bull Salzburg at the time and was just six months away from a £17million move to Borussia Dortmund. He completed his move to the Etihad last week after City triggered the clause in his Dortmund contract.
Nunez, 22, was an unknown with Penarol and about to move to Europe to sign for Spanish club Almeria in a £5million deal. Jurgen Klopp swooped for him with a £65million downpayment and another £20million payable in add-ons after he starred for Benfica against the Reds in the Champions League.
Haaland and Nunez now find themselves at the centre of an intriguing shoot-out at the top of the Premier League. And now the pair find themselves at the centre of a shoot-out at the top of the Premier League.
City have won back-to-back titles without the services of a recognised striker. Record goalscorer Sergio Aguero’s final campaign was blighted by injury and last season their hopes of replacing the Argentine with England captain Kane was scuppered when Tottenham knocked back their £100million price.
Now they have landed Haaland at half the price. The Norwegian scored 86 goals in just 91 appearances for Dortmund - 10 of them as a substitute.
He will spearhead a team that scored 99 goals last season as they beat Liverpool to the title by a point. The Merseyside’s response has been to raid Benfica for Nunez to replace Bayern Munich-bound Sadio Mane. He scored 34 goals in 41 games in Portugal last term. Salah and Son scored 23 goals apiece last season to share the Golden Boot.
Liverpool’s brilliant Egyptian striker is 9/2 second favourite to win the award for the third time. Kane, vying to win it a fourth time, is a 6/1 shot while Spurs team-mate Son is 9/1.
Manchester United ’s Cristiano Ronaldo, a four-time European Golden Shoe winner, can be backed at 10/1. Gabriel Jesus, who seems destined to leave Manchester City for Arsenal this summer, is rated at 22/1, along with Liverpool’s Diogo Jota.
Romelu Lukaku is also 22/1 - despite Chelsea currently negotiating with Inter Milan about a loan deal that would see their £97.5million striker to return to the Italian club. Jamie Vardy, still a serial goalscorer for Leicester at the age of 35 and a Golden Boot winner in 2020, is a 33/1 outsider.
