Erling Haaland already had a reputation for providing iconic post-match interviews and has wasted little time giving one to Premier League viewers.
The Norwegian striker enjoyed a stunning top-flight debut for Manchester City, scoring a brace as they beat West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium. Haaland’s City switch was arguably the headline transfer of any club in England, arriving as one of the most feared forwards in world football.
And he showed exactly what he can bring to the Premier League, winning and converting a first-half penalty, before ending the Hammers’ resistance with another goal after the break. His double means he becomes the first City player since Sergio Aguero to score twice on his debut for the club.
However, despite putting their title rivals on notice with his performance, Haaland offered a typically humble response. “It was good, a good start and it’s nothing much to say but a good start, 2-0.
“It was good to get minutes in the legs because it’s still early in the season. We have to keep going, we saw the potential against Bayern, against Liverpool I was a little but down, but it will come. The passes will come, it should’ve been more today but a good start.”
The 21-year-old was then asked whether he was disappointed to not score a hat-trick, with Sky Sports forced to censor his responses as he swore twice in a matter of seconds. He added: “If you saw Gundo [Ilkay Gundogan] right before I went off, I should’ve been there. So it was a but s*** but that’s how it is.”
Sky reporter Geoff Shreeves then asked him to watch his language, to which Haaland replied: “S*** sorry! Not good language in this country,” with both interviewer and player laughing off the incident.
“It was a big moment for me [first goal]. My debut in this competition, we have to keep going. It’s almost 30 minutes since I scored the last goal so I have to keep going.”
The pundits inside the London Stadium could barely hide their astonishment at the Premier League’s newest star, with Manchester United legend Roy Keane full of praise for his attitude. “I think it will help that the deal was done a few months ago,” he explained. “He has had a chance to settle, he has no problems with the language, even if there were a couple of swear words there.
“He’s spoken about his disappointment about one of two of the chances missed, but he’s a mature lad, hungry. £50-odd million seems like peanuts for potentially brilliant, one of the best players.
“The hardest thing about football is scoring goals and he does it for fun. It looks easy to him, clearly he’s a goalscorer and what came across in the interview is that he’s hungry for more.”
Pep Guardiola was also pleased to hear of Haaland's determination for more goals. Likening him to another of his former charges by the name of Lionel Messi.
"That's great I like it," Guardiola said of Haaland's interview. "I was fortunate to be with Messi - when he wants two he wants three, he wants four, five. Top goalscorers are never satisfied, they are hungry, starving, and want more and more. But at the same time I need to involve the new players."
