ERLING IT’S ALL SO EASY FOR
Erling Haaland has a confession to tell FourFourTwo. Ever since he was a small child, he’s had a problem, and it’s only getting worse. Every single day, it’s on his mind. Every time he steps onto a football field, it totally consumes him.
He must score goals. He needs to score goals.
Over the past 10 months, his goalscoring has hit ludicrous levels. Hat-tricks have become a regular occurrence. In one match, he scored a ridiculous nine times. But it will never be enough. He will always want more.
“I think I’m addicted…” reveals Haaland, bursting into laughter. “It’s a good addiction!”
So far, it’s an addiction that has turned the 19-year-old striker into arguably the most exciting teenager in world football. Rarely has a player so young produced a year quite like this – a year that has transformed him from a Red Bull Salzburg reserve into one of German football’s biggest stars, via serious interest from Manchester United.
Haaland scored eight times in his first four games for Borussia Dortmund, taking his tally for the season to an astonishing 36 goals in 26 games. Those eight strikes for BVB came from a total of 181 minutes, or the equivalent of two full matches.
Every player in Europe would love to post those sorts of numbers, and they’re not the only ones who are envious. As the Norwegian marksman arrives to greet FFT, there’s a stark message on his T-shirt. ‘The devil is jealous of me,’ it reads.
“You like it?” asks Haaland. “I know the devil has been jealous about me my whole life…” The devil and everyone else for that matter, we suggest, prompting a chuckle from the teenage talent. “But especially him,” he adds, smiling but elaborating no further.
As we sit down to chat, it quickly becomes clear that Haaland speaks almost exclusively in one-liners,
