Norwegian striker Erling Haaland transferred to Manchester City in 2022 and is already breaking records. Here is everything you need to know about the 22-year-old prodigy.
Birth of a champion
In March 2022, his former Borussia Dortmund teammate Giovanni Reyna said about him : “He keeps on getting better. It’s hard to say what the ceiling is for him. […] He can really be one of the best ever.” Indeed, after only a few months with Manchester City, Haaland has already proven that he will go above and beyond to make history. He’s walking in the footsteps of his favourite star : his father Alfie was a professional football player too, and played for Manchester City from 2000 to 2003. At the ripe age of 22 years old, Erling Haaland is set to become a memorable champion. Not so surprising, considering he started his career so early-on – at 15. He played for Bryne (Norway) and for the U15 national team. He then went on to play for Molde, Salzburg and Dortmund, and for the Norway national selection every year since 2015. He has been making himself known as a prodigy long before his transfer to City : Haaland won the Golden Boy award in 2020, which is awarded by sports journalists to the most remarkable young player of the year. To put things in a nutshell, Erling Haaland is a product of the traditional youth system, but he mostly owes his success to his hunger to achieve more and to demolish every single existing record.
First steps in the Premier League
Known for his speed and his strength, Manchester City’s new number 9 is a bit of a Viking. That’s what he likes to jokingly call himself, but when faced with the 1.95m player with long blond hair, nobody seems to disagree. All jokes aside, Haaland does have astonishing stats, and is quickly becoming City’s star player.
While there were doubts concerning his arrival in the Premier League, he was quick to make them stop. The young striker scored three hat-tricks in eight weeks, including a hat-trick (three goals in one game) against Manchester United in October. This makes him the quickest player to score three hat-tricks in the Premier League.
Before his transfer to City, he was at Dortmund for 2 and a half years where he scored 84 goals in 88 games. With his 21 goals in premier league, Haaland is not only Manchester City’s best striker, he’s also the best premier league striker so far, and might break new records before the end of the season. He’s one for the history books. In the Guardian, Richard Foster wrote that « Alan Shearer, Andy Cole and Sergio Agüero will have their names replaced in the record books if Haaland keeps this up ». The young striker is certainly keeping us on our toes.
Haaland’s next game, Manchester United VS Manchester City, will take place on Saturday 14th January. Who knows what records he will break then ?
Rosanna Airiau
Sources :
https://amp.mancity.com/news/mens/erling-haaland-dortmund-salzburg-norway-teammates-63791158
https://www.footmercato.net/joueur/erling-haland/
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