The Norwegian has proved himself to be one of the greatest goalscorers to ever play the game, but which players has he looked up to?
It is difficult to come up with a better goalscorer than Erling Haaland. There aren’t many out there, past or present. The long-haired Norwegian has now scored 153 goals in 184 appearances for Manchester City since joining them three-and-a-half years ago.
In total, he has netted 285 times in 340 appearances, according to Transfermarkt, and he is still only 25. But before he became towering, ruthless striker he is today, who were the players he looked up to growing up?
“I watched Zlatan a lot when I was young,” Haaland said. “He was Swedish and nice to watch. Of course, [Sergio] Aguero I watched a lot from watching lots of City.
“Then there was also Robin [van Persie] in the Premier League. He was also left-footed, with crazy finishes. I remember one season he had with Arsenal when he scored around 38 goals. That was an incredible season.
“Even Jamie Vardy – the runs he did were amazing to see. I’ve been watching many strikers.”
This season Haaland started out in remarkable form, possibly the best of his career so far, with pundits surprised that he could get even better than he already was. The Norwegian has since struggled with fatigue and has had to be rested a few times, but he still has 29 goals in 38 appearances for City so far, and this season he unveiled a new celebration, the robot dance, a nod to popular comments that he is a goalscoring machine.
“The way of scoring goals can sometimes be, don’t get me wrong, it can be ‘easy’,” Haaland said. “Just put the ball in behind, run and score. When you look at the goal I scored against Galatasaray, it’s the perfect example of this.
“But a lot of it comes down to myself. I’ve watched others, and watched goals from the likes of Thierry Henry. You take small things from some of the goals he scored, as well as a lot of different strikers.
“But you then kind of go your own way, which I think is a good thing, if you’re young and if you want to become better. I’ve always wanted to become better, but I also just wanted to enjoy playing football when I was young.
“I didn’t think, ‘Oh, I need to train hard, learn to do this or that’. I played football because it was a nice thing to do, and when you do nice things, you want to do it more.”
What next for the midfielder then? How do you carry on when you are already regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers to ever feature in the Premier League and you are still 25, not quite at the age even regarded as a football player’s peak.
“The motivation always has to be within myself,” Haaland said. “How I approach every single day, how I wake up with the right mindset of, ‘It’s another day, I play for Man City’. I’m actually living the dream of so many hundreds of millions of people in this world, so for me that’s motivation in itself.
“To stand here talking about my goals and records is a way of motivating myself. The fact that people are looking up to me is also motivation in itself, so for me, it’s about continuing, it’s about not being injured, doing the right things, staying around the right people, and to keep going.
“When I talk about good people around me, it’s not just my friends but the people at the club. I’m lucky to be at a club with so many good people, and with Pep [Guardiola] who pushes us every single day.
“I’m lucky to have worked with Pep for three-and-a-half years. It’s been an amazing time, as we all know, and no matter what happens in the future, we still need to keep pushing. I need to keep pushing myself, and others around me, to get better.”
