SCORING MACHINE
17 goals in 10 games, a famous dad and Liverpool in his sights. Erling Haaland is a…
THE day before Red Bull Salzburg were gearing up for their return to the big time, captain Andreas Ulmer took his new- born daughter for a walk.
What should have been a quiet stroll turned into something different altogether. The tranquillity of his neighbourhood was punctured by the growl of a car pulling up next to him, then the opening bars of a familiar song. When Ulmer looked around, everything became clear.
There was Norway international Erling Haaland — son of Alfie, the former Nottingham Forest, Leeds and Manchester City midfielder — beaming with excitement. He had been driving around with the Champions League theme blaring from the speakers and this was a signal to his captain that he was ready.
Haaland, 19, was more than ready. The next night, he grasped his chance. He scored within two minutes, had a hat-trick by halftime and by the end of Salzburg’s 6-2 thumping of Genk, his status as one of the hottest young strikers in Europe was secure.
‘It was always Erling’s goal to play at this level because the Champions League is the most fascinating competition and this had been his dream,’ his father tells Sportsmail. ‘How many people get to fulfil their dream? It is superb for him.’
The night we speak, not everything has gone to plan. Erling — who has scored 17 goals in 10 games this season, including four hat-tricks — has withdrawn from the Austrian Cup match against fierce rivals Rapid Vienna with illness and been sent home to recover for the trip to Liverpool.
His absence, however, does not stop Erling from being the hot topic of conversation and Alfie glows with pride when discussing his son’s rise. The treble against Genk led to his picture being adorned on the front of Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s biggest-selling newspaper, and the realisation a star was born.
‘It all came naturally,’ Haaland Snr explains. ‘ He has always played up front and always had an eye for goal, with the small details. He has always been prepared to listen. You could see he had quite a talent, but this has come as a surprise to us all.’
There is some modesty in that observation. Scouts had keenly charted Haaland’s development, as he had been prolific for Norway’s youth teams, with the best example of his prodigious talent coming when he scored nine in one game against Honduras at this summer’s U20 World Cup.
Red Bull, though, had his signature secured long before. They had tracked him at Molde, where he had sparkled under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Christoph Freund, the club’s sporting director, tells Sportsmail about a how a four-goal blitz in 21 minutes against SK Brann led him to do the deal.
‘The thing we really liked about him was his character,’ says Freund. ‘He kept scoring goals and we kept following in. He had a winning mentality and his character was outstanding for someone of such a young age.’
Team-mates describe Erling as larger than life, a young man who likes to joke, as the incident with the car shows. His father recognises those impish qualities but knows there is also a serious side that has come from watching his idols Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
‘He’s made sacrifices,’ says Aflie. ‘We know what temptations there are for boys his age but he understands what it needs to get to where he wants to go. He doesn’t drink — you can’t now. It’s not like how it was in my day, when we could go and have a few good nights out.
‘I hope I can offer him guidance. I can’t tell him anything about what to do on the field. He looks to his coaches for that. I can help with certain aspects and to prepare for the life he is going to go through. If he wants to be successful, he will find the way himself.’
Alfie will be at Anfield this evening and you can guarantee there will be an army of scouts, too, with the likes of Manchester United and Bayern Munich already linked with Erling.
Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, called Haaland a ‘wonderful player and a proper threat’ in his pre-game briefing but added he is ‘in the perfect place to develop’. Salzburg have history in producing top-notch performers and the indications are they have another.
‘Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and lots of other top professionals began their career here and I think we are a very interesting proposition for young players,’ Freund says. ‘ Erling has to increase his levels every day but he has a very good character and likes hard work.
‘He has all the ingredients to be a top striker in Europe. There are many rumours around him but we will see. He loves scoring, and he is not stopping.’