Erling Braut Haaland: The ‘terrifying’ Leeds-born striker linked with Manchester United transfer and set to face Liverpool
Erling Braut Haaland looks set for superstardom.
The 19-year-old striker scored a first-half hat-trick on his Champions League debut to inspire RB Salzburg to a 6-2 win over Genk last month.
Haaland, who has been called ‘The Manchild’ due to his enormous frame, is the son of former Leeds and Nottingham Forest defender Alf-Inge Haaland.
The youngster is tearing up the Austrian Bundesliga with 11 goals in seven games this season and became the third youngest player to net a Champions League hat-trick - behind Raul and Wayne Rooney.
He is set to face Liverpool at Anfield tonight in their Group E tie.
And below talkSPORT has had an in-depth insight into the teenager taking Europe by storm…
Erling Braut Haaland - 2019/20
Age: 19
Club: RB Salzburg
Position: Striker
Nationalilty: Norway
League appearances: 7
League goals: 11
Champions League appearances: 1
Champions League goals: 3
What's his background?
Before officially joining RB Salzburg from Norwegian club Molde on a five-year deal in January, Haaland was linked with a move to Manchester United.
And with his form in Europe so far this season, the Red Devils could renew their interest.
Leeds-born Haaland was signed and coached by United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Molde, with the Norwegian once comparing him to Romelu Lukaku.
In 2017, Haaland revealed his ‘dream’ was to win the Premier League title with Leeds, where he did became something of a cult hero.
He said: “I want to be the best possible. The dream is to win the Premier League with Leeds.
“In addition, the goal is to become a better player than my dad was. I hope to get more caps than he did.”
Haaland has already scored three hat-tricks since the start of the 2019/20 campaign and has netted a remarkable 17 goals in nine games in all competitions for RB Salzburg this term.
His form was rewarded with a call-up to the senior Norway side where he made two appearances against Malta and Sweden earlier this month.
Representing Norway at the Under-20 World Cup during the summer, Haaland scored NINE goals in one game - a 12-0 win over Honduras.
Haaland could light up Euro 2020, but Norway face an uphill battle to qualify for next summer’s tournament with Spain, Sweden and Romania ahead of them.
What is being said about him?
Norwegian football journalist Lars Sivertsen has heaped praise on Haaland, insisting he can play in a better division than the Austrian Bundesliga.
Speaking on talkSPORT's European football show, Trans Euro Express, Sivertsen said: “He’s a big lad! He’s 6ft 4ins and still has such a baby face. It looks like someone’s tried to draw a boy and made him too big by accident. He’s unusually large.
“He’s got the body of a big centre-half, except he plays up front. The thing that’s remarkable about him is that he’s not slow either.
“He gets about the pitch, he’s quite fluid in his movement. He’s decent with the ball and he’s a decent finisher. He’s got a lot of good ingredients for an absolutely terrifying striker.
“He looks like a guy who’s playing at the wrong level, he should not be playing in the Austrian league. I don’t think they anticipated him developing as quickly as he has.
“He’s looking absolutely terrifying and has so many ingredients to be a top forward. This is something that scouts will look for - it’s not as easy when you look for big and strong players.
“But players who have size and are still quick on the ground, it’s one of those things you can’t teach."
Sivertsen reckons Haaland is a player Solskjaer could look to bring to Old Trafford in the future.
He added: “Erling Haaland went to Molde and played under Solskjaer for a while where he grew so big. He shot up and grew something like 10, 15 centimetres in a year.
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“He put on a crazy amount of weight in a good way, loads of muscle. He was 17, but had the body of a 27-year-old centre-half.
“All the other players at Molde used to tease him and call him ‘The Manchild’, just because he didn’t look like a 17-year-old.
“If what United are doing, even irrespective of whether Solskjaer stays there long-term or not, it does seem if you look at their transfer business this summer that what they want to do is buy younger guys.
“Instead of signing superstars they’re signing people who are on the way up a bit, so yeah, he [Haaland] is a guy you might want to look at.”
How much is he likely to cost?
Haaland is currently valued at £10.8million, according to Transfermarkt.
But that valuation will increase by a huge amount if he keeps up his incredible scoring form.