Record breakers are by definition unique. They have achieved something no one else has. And yet, when Sergio Aguero scores the two goals he needs to overhaul Eric Brook and become officially Manchester City’s greatest goalscorer, he will be both alone and a member of a growing band.

Plenty of his contemporaries have already made their mark in history. While many of the major clubs date back to the 19th century, it is notable how many of their record holders have played in the 21st century. Some are comparatively recently retired, others still extending unparalleled tallies.

Lionel Messi has a quintuple century of Barcelona goals, Cristiano Ronaldo a quadruple century for Real Madrid. Thierry Henry set a new best for Arsenal, as did Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Paris Saint-Germain, Wayne Rooney for Manchester United, Frank Lampard for Chelsea, Alessandro del Piero for Juventus and Francesco Totti for Roma. It is a race if Aguero can set a City record before Marek Hamsik does likewise at Napoli: the Slovakian is only one adrift of Diego Maradona’s mark.

There is a similar story for the other most prestigious individual feat: the most appearances for the superclubs. Ryan Giggs started a process of ejecting Sir Bobby Charlton from United’s record books before Rooney, with his scoring exploits, followed suit. Raul and Xavi rewrote Real and Barcelona history. The Italian giants’ markers have all been set in the comparatively recent past: Totti for Roma, Del Piero for Juventus, Giuseppe Favalli for Lazio, Paolo Maldini for AC Milan and Javier Zanetti for Inter.

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Even when the bar has not been raised, heights have been scaled in the recent past. Oliver Kahn stands second for appearances for Bayern Munich, Paul Scholes third for United, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard second and third for Liverpool, John Terry third for Chelsea, Tony Adams second for Arsenal.

The record holders of pensionable age – Gerd Muller, Sepp Maier, Jimmy Greaves, Ian Callaghan – start to look the anomalies. Those who, like Brook, have been dead for half a century, are still rarer.

While there are idiosyncrasies – Ibrahimovic only needed to score 110 goals for Paris Saint-Germain to surpass anyone else – the overall evidence is overwhelming. As clubs’ history gets deeper, making it appears easier. This is a triumph of the new, statistical proof that football is better than it used to be. Sort of.

There are reasons. At the most basic level, football is not interrupted by major conflicts. Brook was only 31 when World War 2 broke out. He never played for City again, whereas otherwise Aguero may have still be 100 goals adrift of his tally. The guarantee of European football allows modern figures to make more appearances per year in a way their predecessors could not. Sports science seems to make it more feasible for the most fortunate and fit to average at least 50 games a season for longer.

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The game seems to have changed, too. Goals are more prevalent for the best, Messi and Ronaldo in particular, than they were for decades. Record-breaking seems simpler than in the past. Henry took six years and two months from his debut to beat Ian Wright’s Arsenal record of 185. Aguero has scored at an almost identical rate, taking six years and one month to close in on Brook’s 177.

But there is another element, which both reflect. The record breakers are not just one-club men but, as talent-spotting becomes more advanced in an increasingly globalised game, the best players can gravitate to the top sooner. The most determined stay for longer. In a game more reliant on transfers, the paradox is that a group of elite footballers show less wanderlust.

And it is significant that the records which are being broken are, in theory, the toughest ones: scoring more goals or playing more games for clubs at the summit of the game. It may seem simpler to make a mark where you don’t face competition from some of the world’s finest. Instead those, like Newcastle’s record scorer Alan Shearer, who have done so in the 21st century are the rarities.

But his long-time team-mate Shay Given threatened to play most games for Newcastle, just as Gareth Barry did for Aston Villa. Instead, both left for a club, in City, with a greater chance of winning trophies. The fate of fallen giants turned mid-table, or even Championship, clubs is reflected among those who can no longer aspire to winning the Champions League. Ajax and Benfica’s records have been unchanged for decades. Had Alexandre Lacazette stayed at Lyon for two more years, he might have been their highest ever scorer. Had Mateja Kezman played a few more games for PSV Eindhoven, he would have been theirs. Instead they decamped in search of glory.

Instead history is being made where, to the wider world, it matters most. As Aguero is set to outstrip everyone else to play for City, in one respect he will stand shoulder to shoulder with Messi and Ronaldo.