Erling Haaland picks eight strikers he admired as a kid, including ex-Man City and Manchester United players.
The Manchester City striker also discussed how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer influenced his career.
Erling Haaland has selected eight strikers he admired as a kid.
The Manchester City attacker has made an immediate impression since joining the Premier League champions last summer, scoring 27 goals in his first 24 outings. One of Haaland’s most notable qualities is his mobility in and around the box, which he learnt through observing some of the game’s recent greats, according to a recent interview.
“From Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] to [Robin] Van Persie to [Jamie] Vardy to [Sergio] Aguero, [Lionel] Messi,” Haaland told GQ when asked which forwards he grew up copying and mimicking. “[Alvaro] Negredo, Edin Dzeko, and [Mario] Balotelli,” he added, referring to his childhood love of watching City.
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In addition to observing some of the Premier League’s best forwards, Haaland learned directly from one while at Molde, when he was managed by ex-Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“This is what we did for two years, the whole period I was in Molde. And it was a good thing because I couldn’t hit the ball, and now I’m scoring goals with my head – thanks to them.”
Haaland was also asked in the interview whether one day winning the Ballon d’Or is one of his personal aims. “I think everybody cares,” he responded. “But I don’t think it’s a good thing to think about this. “If you and your team are playing really well, you will perform well, you will begin to win trophies, [and] you will probably be on the list. Like [Kevin De Bruyne was – he was third place, I think well deserved, by the way. But yeah, you cannot think of these kinds of things. “Look at [Karim] Benzema, he is 35 now and I think even better,” Haaland added. “So in 12 years I hope to be even better than I am now.”
Solskjaer, one of Norway’s greatest ever goal scorers, worked with Haaland on a specific aspect of his game. “The first thing I recall he said to me was ‘You have no concept how to head the ball. We have to work on that’,” said the 22-year-old, who revealed Solskjaer would send in repeated crosses for him to practise his heading.
