Troy Deeney has left Erling Haaland out of his list of the 10 best Premier League strikers, arguing the Manchester City forward 'still has a long way to go.'
The former Watford captain ranked his top frontmen since 1992, placing Thierry Henry first, followed by Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer. He included Andy Cole at fourth, with Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez, Robbie Fowler and Jermain Defoe rounding out positions five to nine in no particular order.
Haaland joined the Premier League in 2022 and broke the single-season goals record with 36 in his debut campaign. He has since scored 27, 22 and 27 goals, earning three Golden Boots in four years. His total of 112 league goals puts him among the fastest scorers in history.
Deeney's reasoning
Speaking to talkSPORT, Deeney said: 'He is a freak… I also think there's still a long way to go. Haaland's not in there, not yet, no. A lot of it for me is about feeling as well, what players made you feel when you watched them.'
Deeney added: 'I think this season is going to be really interesting. The seasons he's been at City, they have been unbelievable anyway and he's been a piece to that, an additional piece. It'll be interesting now they're not favourites to win it. Can he carry the team a little bit? I'd like to see him drag this team forward. When he played against Arsenal, against Gabriel, I was like 'wow'. He dragged the team to win that game, I'd like to see that more.'
Deeney's top picks
Deeney explained his choices: 'Henry, you watched him and you were like 'wow', you'd never seen anyone that quick, he had that finish into the bottom corner. Rooney, as a kid, he was one of the best players I'd ever seen, he could do it all. Shearer, it's obviously goals. Cole is the most disrespected striker in Premier League history. He's never in anybody else's top 10. He scored over 180 goals. Defoe did it for so many years, Aguero was unbelievable.'
Haaland has scored eight Premier League hat-tricks, a tally only bettered by Aguero, Fowler and Shearer. Despite his achievements, Deeney did not name a 10th striker, effectively excluding the Norwegian from his ranking.
