Prepare yourself now for fans to fall over themselves to tell you when they first discovered the talents of Erling Haaland. Of course us Football Manager players have known about him for years, but this will go down as the week he truly broke through into the consciousness of most fans.
He scored a brilliant hat-trick on his Champions League debut for RB Salzburg so it was obvious he would start being linked with every club. The Manchester Evening News linked him to Old Trafford, and that move would make sense given their need for firepower and he’s already worked with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Molde.
READ MORE: Video: Teenage sensation scores hat trick on his Champions League debut
His brilliance has been recognised by winning the Champions League player of the week, as confirmed in this tweet from B/R Football:
3 shots.
3 goals.19-year-old Erling Haaland has been named #UCL Player of the Week ?? pic.twitter.com/sAcXFzrMna
— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 20, 2019
It’s a brilliant bit of recognition for the young Norwegian as there were a lot of great performances from more established players who could have won the award.
The 19 year old was actually born in Leeds as his father Alf Inge Haaland played for the Yorkshire club at the time of Erling’s birth. He went on to play for Man City and was on the end of that horrific Roy Keane tackle, so it will be interesting to see if that has any impact on a potential move to Old Trafford.
His goal scoring exploits this week aren’t a one off. That hat-trick took his record to 17 goals in only nine games so far this year so it’s clear to see why he’s attracting a lot of interest.
His team face a trip to Anfield in early October, so this could give us a huge indication if he’s good enough for the very top level at the moment, or if he needs to continue his development for a while first.