Pep Guardiola mentioned final yr that scoring targets is the “most troublesome factor in soccer”.
It’s no marvel then that the Manchester Metropolis supervisor was so eager to convey Erling Haaland to the Etihad Stadium, because the Norwegian has made the duty look straightforward all through his younger profession.
An settlement has been reached in precept for Haaland to affix Metropolis from 1 July after the Premier League champions triggered his 60million euros (£51.25million) launch clause from Borussia Dortmund.
His signing concludes Metropolis’s lengthy seek for an out-and-out striker, having failed of their makes an attempt to extract Harry Kane from Tottenham final summer season.
It’s now two years since Guardiola’s aspect have boasted an everyday specialist in that place, with file goalscorer Sergio Aguero enduring an injury-hit season earlier than leaving the membership 12 months in the past.
They’ve actually not fared badly in that point, however the addition of Haaland has the texture of a remaining piece of the jigsaw being put into place.
Haaland has large boots to fill in these of Aguero however he has already confirmed he can ship below strain and on the highest degree, having netted a exceptional 85 occasions in 88 appearances for Dortmund.
After hitting the bottom operating with a hat-trick on debut, just about all his prolific two-and-a-half-year spell with the Bundesliga aspect was performed within the shadow of hypothesis over his future.
He has lengthy been considered one of many hottest properties within the sport and a transfer to Metropolis, or one other European powerhouse akin to Actual Madrid or Barcelona, had appeared inevitable for a while.
Haaland was prolific for Dortmund (PA Archive/PA Photos)
(PA Archive)
How Manchester United is likely to be kicking themselves now, seeing a participant they have been closely linked with themselves previous to his now-bargain £17million transfer to Dortmund in January 2020 being paraded by their cross-town rivals.
But Metropolis at all times appeared a pure vacation spot for a participant with a household hyperlink and previous affinity for the membership.
Haaland adopted Metropolis as a teen after his father Alf-Inge Haaland performed for them from 2000-03 following earlier spells at Nottingham Forest and Leeds.
Metropolis by no means acquired to see the most effective of Alf-Inge on account of harm, his profession by no means actually recovering from a infamous Roy Keane deal with in 2001. But with Haaland senior taking part in a key off-field function in his son’s affairs, the membership’s reference to him could also be about to pay wealthy dividends.
Admittedly, there was a price to pay with reported weekly wages for the participant of £500,000 together with his representatives additionally accumulating sums.
But what they’ll get for his or her cash is a participant who, at 6ft 4in and with power and tempo to burn, cuts an imposing determine and has a pure goalscorer’s intuition.
Haaland’s father Alf-Inge performed for Metropolis within the early 2000s (Phil Noble/PA)
(PA Archive)
Born in Leeds in 2000, Haaland grew up in Bryne, Norway. Along with his mom Gry Marita Braut having been a heptathlete, he boasted robust sporting genes and progressed by means of the junior ranks of native soccer membership Bryne.
He was lured to Molde in 2017 and two years later was snapped up by RB Salzburg. It was in Austria he exploded into mainstream consciousness, scoring 29 targets in 27 video games together with an attention-grabbing eight in a single Champions League group stage and 5 hat-tricks.
He spent only one yr at Salzburg earlier than shifting to Dortmund, nonetheless aged simply 19.
To this point he has taken the whole lot in his appreciable stride and, if the present trajectory continues, Guardiola won’t have to fret the place the targets are coming from.
Kaynak: briturkish.com
