Erling Haaland and that headband
Erling Haaland is a Norwegian striker currently playing for Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund who stands at 194 centimetres. Haaland was born in Leeds, England on the 21st of July, 2000 to father Alf-Inge Haaland who also played professional football. Erling Haaland can be easily recognised on the pitch due to the headband he wears.
When Haaland was three years old, he and his family moved to Bryne, Norway which is the hometown of his parents. As a youngster, Haaland loved football and joined local side Bryne FK at the age of 5.
Youth coach Alf Ingve Berntsen spoke about Erling recently when he said: ”I saw Erling for the first time when he was five when he joined indoor training with a group one year older. His first two touches led to goals. He was very, very good from the first moment, even though he hadn't played in the club before. He started playing in his own year group, but because he was so much better than the others, we immediately pulled him up to the under 6 side.
Haaland played one season for Bryne FK’s reserve team where he scored 18 goals in 14 matches at just 15 years old. Haaland’s youth coach Alf Ingve Berntsen was appointed caretaker manager of the first team in 2016. He gave Erling his first-team debut at just 15 years of age, however, failed to score in his 16 appearances due to his unfamiliarity with playing on the wing.
In 2017, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim offered Haaland a trial at the club but he decided to join Norwegian side Molde FK in order to play under Ole Gunnar Solskjær. He made his debut for Molde FK 2 in 2017 scoring 2 goals in 4 games before being promoted to the first team.
Haaland scored 14 goals in 39 competitive appearances for Molde FK which attracted interest from European clubs. Leeds United put in an offer for him, however, he joined RB Salzburg for a fee of £7.2 million on a 5 year contract in January, 2019.
In his time at RB Salzburg, Haaland started breaking records. He scored 17 goals in 16 games for the club including four hattricks. In his first match in the Champions League he scored a hattrick in a 6-2 win over Genk. He became the second teenager in Champions League history to score in each of his first three appearances where he scored six goals in the process. He then became the first teenager to score in his first four games by scoring against Napoli before scoring once more in his fifth match of the competition against Genk.
Borussia Dortmund announced the signing of Erling Haaland in January, 2020 by paying his release clause of £18 million. His debut saw a substitute appearance in the 56th minute where he came on to score a 23 minute hattrick to help his side to a 5-3 win. So far he’s scored 27 goals in 30 appearance and looks to only improve from here.
