Erling Haaland is not just a goalscoring machine – he is the ultimate football nerd. And his obsession with the game may help explain his success.
Some footballers see it merely as a job which they switch off from when they get home. Haaland is not like that. He grew up in a football family, with his professional footballer dad Alf-Inge the reason why he was born in Leeds.
Haaland is a self-confessed football addict who is, in the words of his Manchester City team-mate Kevin de Bruyne, “so obsessed with goals”. While he has previously explained that he was “bewitched” by watching the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic play, and paid tribute to Sergio Aguero, he casts his net far and wide to improve his game.
