Erling Haaland Norwegian Footballer is a 21-year-old player who started his career playing as a winger but later on developed as a striker. He currently plays for a German domestic side Borussia Dortmund.
Erling Haaland Norwegian Footballer Info
Full Name: Erling Braut Haaland
Father Name: Alf-Inge Haaland
Date of Birth: 21st July 2000
Place of Birth: Leeds, England
Age: 21
Height: 6’4
Nationality: Norway
Current Club: Borussia Dortmund
Position: Striker
Domestic Football Career
Erling Haaland started his football career for a local Norwegian 2nd division club named Bryne FK. They signed Erling Haaland at the age of five and made his professional debut at the age of 15. He then went on to play 16 games for the side. He initially started as a winger, playing more wide but in his late spells at Bryne he was positioned as a striker. However he failed to score in his breakthrough season playing a total of 16 games, he was yet offered a chance at the German side Hoffenheim but later on he went to Molde a side that was managed by the former Manchester United fairy tale striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Molde
At Molde, it was a big opportunity for Erling Haaland to step up his career as he was being managed by the former Norwegian striker Ole. Erling joined Molde in Feb 2017 when he was only 16. At Molde, he managed to make 48 appearances netting 19 times. Those stats are impressive, especially for a 17-year-old. For his age at the time he was fast, sharp, quick, strong, had a great leap and most importantly he could finish off chances. All those traits are exceptional for a player, especially early in his career. Erling Haaland scored four goals in the opening 21 minutes of the game against Brann in their really special league match.
Erling Haaland Comparison with Lukaku
Ole compared Haaland to the Belgian leading goal scorer in 2018 in the words;
“He has all the traits and abilities to become a top striker one day. When I watch him play he reminds me of Lukaku.”
Well, the two strikers might have something in common, they both have great aerial strength, a strong left foot the ability to be at the right place at the right time, and finally the execution to finish off chances and score lethal goals. However, Haaland is still quite young but surely a young talent who has already developed into a proper goal scorer.
RB Salzburg
Haaland joined the Austrian domestic side Salzburg in January 2019. At Salzburg, he won the Austrian league (Bundesliga) and the Austrian Cup. He managed to make a total of 27 appearances, netting 29 times. His stats at the Austrian side were impressive. At Salzburg, Haaland clicked and managed to make some records. He made his UEFA Champions League debut on the 17th of September 2019 against the Belgian side Genk where he scored a hat-trick in the opening 45 minutes of the game.
His side Salzburg had to face two other European giants Liverpool and the famous Italian side Napoli. Haaland’s second game in the Champions League was against Liverpool at Anfield a game that ended 4-3 in favour of the English side courtesy of a 69th-minute winner by Mohammad Salah.
Erling Haaland Achievements
Amazingly Haaland did score in that game as well. His next two games were against the famous Italian side Napoli where he scored two goals in the first game played in Austria, a game that ended 2-3 in favour of the Italian side. In the reverse group fixture against Napoli, his side managed to nick a point courtesy of an early penalty in the 11th minute scored by the Norwegian striker himself. That goal made Haaland to be the youngest-ever player to score in his opening four Champions League fixtures.
But the Norwegian striker was still not done as he also managed to score 5th Champions League game against Genk in a 4-1 win where he managed to score a goal for his side making a record of being the youngest player to score consecutively in each of his first five opening fixtures in the Champions League.
His side’s last game was against Liverpool at home, where they were knocked out of the Champions League but managed to lure a place in the Europa League. They finished 3rd in the group below the group leaders Liverpool and the 2nd placed Napoli. It was the last game for Haaland at Salzburg. During his time at Salzburg in the 2019-2020 season, he managed to score 28 goals in 22 games.
Borussia Dortmund
In January 2020, Haaland joined Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of 20 million euros. The Norwegian made a debut for the club in their league game against FC Augsburg where he came on as a substitute to land three goals. The talented forward became only the 2nd player in Dortmund’s history to score three goals in a Bundesliga debut. He then went on to make a record of scoring the fastest 5 goals in the Bundesliga in just 56 minutes of football played. During the same season, his side faced the French greats PSG in the round of 16 of the Champions League.
In the first game, Haaland scored two goals in a 2-1 victory, only to see his side get knocked out of the Champions League in the coming second leg that PSG won quite comfortably by 2-0. Haaland joined Dortmund in the January transfer window making a total of 15 league appearances and netting in 13 times. The same season he played in the champion league for two different sides, scoring 10 goals in just 8 appearances. Dortmund managed to finish in 2nd place that season.
Second season wuth Borussia Dortmund
In his second season at the club, he managed to make 40 appearances for the club scoring a total of 40 goals. The same season he also won his first title with the club along with some records at the UEFA stage. His side faced Sevilla in the round of 16 of the Champions League where Haaland managed to score four goals in his side’s combined 5-4 victory over the two legs. In the quarter-finals his side was knocked out by Manchester City in a combined aggregate score of 4-2 in favor of the English side.
In the same season, Haaland made a record of being the youngest and fastest player to score their first 20 goals in the Champions League. The Norwegian striker achieved this milestone in just 14 games. On May 13th his side faced RP Leipzig in the finals of DFB – Pokal 2021, a game where the Norwegian scored a brace to win his first-ever title with Borussia Dortmund.
Currently in his 3rd season at the club, Haaland has already managed to score 13 goals for the club in just 9 appearances. The guy is an absolute sensation, he is full of goals and one can only wonder how much more he is going to score come the end of the season. Overall he has played 69 games for the German side scoring a total of 70 goals so far and you never know how many more he is going to score but one thing we know is that he is the sort of striker who can easily get you 40-plus goals a season.
Erling Haaland’s International Career
Haaland got his first international call from Norway at the age of 15 back in 2016. He started at U17 level then progressed to U19 in 2017. After one year at U19 level, he made it to the U21 squad in 2018. Exactly one year later he scored 9 goals in a single game against U20s Honduras side in a match that ended 12-0. That is the world record for most goals by a player in a single match in U20 World Cup.
Haaland got his senior International call at the age of just 19 in August 2019. He made his senior debut in a match against Malta on 5th September 2019. He scored his first senior goal for Norway in UEFA Nations League 20-21 against Austria even though his side lost the match by one goal lead. Since then Erling Haaland has managed to make 15 caps for Norway and has scored 12 goals.
His goal ratio per game is one of the best in the game. Norway has no doubt produced some excellent strikers, the likes of Odd Iverson, Tore Andre Flo, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and John Carew. Considering the talent of Erling Haaland and how early he started his career on International stage one could tell how successful his career would be.
Playing Style
Erling Haaland started his career playing more wide as a winger. But later on, he was deployed more centrally by his manager Bernstein at Bryne. Playing as a proper number 9 was Haaland’s favourite position and later on in his career, he proved to be a deadly force in front of goal. In terms of his play, there are a lot of elements that we would discuss.
Haaland is 6’4, a height that is ideal for a striker. Being a tall football player he has great strength to tackle off his opponents and run them down with his excellent pace. He is the sort of player that glides past you with high speed and strength and it becomes very difficult for the opposing players to hunt him down. He surely has a pace that’s an absolute certainty but with his high pace, he also brings his fantastic ability to dribble past players to the table making it very difficult for the opposing defenders.
That’s not all about Haaland he also comes with his natural eye for goal that is he would anticipate before his opponents and nick in a goal. It is as if he already knows where and when the ball would arrive to tap in a goal against you.
In terms of dead ball skills, he can shoot the ball with pace, accuracy, and precision, something any good striker needs to score goals from the penalty spot and that makes Haaland a fantastic penalty kicktaker. Another of Haaland’s excellent traits is his natural elevated jump with excellent leap. When that is combined with his great heading ability, it makes him an excellent aerial threat. He is a big match player with a strong mentality and to put it all into conclusion, the Norwegian striker is simply a “Goal Machine”.
Overall Stats
Following are Haaland’s stats and numbers;
At Club Level;
Borussia Dortmund: 69 games, 70 goals
Salzburg: 27 games, 29 goals
Molde: 48 games, 19 goals
Bryne: 16 games, 0 goals
Total Games Played= 160
Total Goals Scored= 118
At International Stage:
Norway Senior Team: 15 games, 12 goals
One Destined for the Future
Haaland is surely destined for the future, a player that has already broken so many records, made many new ones, and has all the potential to be one of the best. He already has scored 100 plus goals in his career added that he is just 21 years old. We all saw what Messi and Ronaldo have done in the past 15 years, they pushed each other strive for strive and eventually raised their levels to a point where no one could come even close.
Competition & Similarities between Mbappe and Haaland
Such similarity is between Mbappe and Haaland and that competitive environment between them can push them to levels that the greatest players in the world once possessed. Even though both players play in different positions, the world wants to see both toe to toe with each other pushing each other to reach the top levels. Mbappe plays primarily as an inside forward while Haaland plays as a striker.
Mbappe is more dynamic, quick, and fast while Haaland is also bestowed with a lethal pace but his main strengths are his strong physicality and excellent poaching abilities. Despite their different style of play at the end of the day both these players would add goals to the score sheet and that’s what the fans love to see. Haaland after scoring a brace against Sevilla in the Round of 16 of the Champions League said;
“I saw Mbappe yesterday; he scored some nice goals. So I got the pre-match boost from him. It was nice”.
In accordance with the above statement it seems obvious on how things would progress in the future. They both are certainly destined for an excellent career ahead of them. Both are fairly young and would certainly make some huge achievements.
Haaland’s Rumored Move to Chelsea
Well first of all it was not just a rumor. One of the richest football club of Premier League Chelsea was really interested in the Norwegian striker. Their new boss Thomas Tuchel who just won the Champions League had an excellent opportunity in the summer transfer window to add to his squad and secure his philosophy. But the deal could not happen as Chelsea signed the Belgian striker Lukaku. Even after that signing, the speculations were still going on but considering how similar Lukaku and Erling Haaland are it was just not feasible to bring him to the club.
Furthermore the deal would weaken the financial structure of the club. It would have been amazing to see Haaland play in the Premier League but it was just not possible to bring him to London and hence Haaland’s Chelsea move broke down.
Interesting Amazing Fact
One interesting fact about Erling Haaland’s father Alf Inge Haaland is a former Norwegian defensive midfielder. He played for Leeds and Manchester City in the Premier League. Back in 1997 when Alf Inge was at Leeds, they played Manchester United. In that very game Roy Keane ruptured his cruciate ligament which forced him out of the season, a challenge made by Alf Inge Haaland himself. 4 years later the two players met again but this time Alf Inge was at Manchester City.
