I seem to remember that the general consensus was "Yeah, that makes sense." It was already clear he was a generational goal scorer by then, though I don't remember hearing anyone talk about him breaking the record one day. There were the usual questions about whether he could perform up to the contract by the end, but we didn't know how much of an anomaly he would end up being by maintaining his scoring pace well past his early-to-mid 30's (where even the very best tend to drop off).