How Haaland’s humility is at the heart of his success: ‘I’m just Erling’

Erling Haaland sought a clarification. Was he thinking about breaking his record? “I need to ask you which record, then?” he said. There are a few to choose from: the most goals in a Premier League season; the most in all competitions for an English club in a season since the 1920s; the most in the first 10 games of a Premier League campaign; the fastest to 50 in both the Premier and the Champions League; the most in the history of the Norway national team. So it was best to narrow it down and Haaland, rather than boasting, was merely being inquisitive.

“I am not being arrogant,” the Norwegian added and, in his defence, it is worth noting that Pep Guardiola believes his centre-forward has a humility that is rare in a footballer of his calibre. “The Treble season, how many did I have? I had 56 in total with national team so I am in a good way.”

Haaland is up to 26 for club and country in a campaign in which only Tottenham and Aston Villa have denied him a goal. And if that included a quintet against Moldova, and Norway’s likely progress to the World Cup means it is very likely to prove Haaland’s most prolific campaign in his country’s colours, in 2022-23, he got 52 for City alone.

Now, should City reach the finals of the FA and Carabao Cups and the Champions League, via the knockout play-off round, they could play a further 52 matches, even before factoring in his international commitments. Haaland has never seemed better, or more unstoppable.

It feels pertinent to note that Lionel Messi’s best was 82 goals in 2011-12, 73 of them in club football, figures that feel surreal and yet attainable. After Haaland’s brace against Bournemouth on Sunday, Guardiola accepted that his striker’s numbers were at the level of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Haaland was quick to shrug off the comparisons. He does not see himself at their level. “Not at all, far off,” he said. “No one can get close to them, so no.”

Haaland could, of course, get close to Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of 260. He is currently 162 adrift but Shearer himself believes the Norwegian will break it. “I don’t really know any records but this one I know,” Haaland said. That he has the best part of nine years left on his City contract gives him plenty of time to get there.

He re-signed as City struggled, itself a sign of loyalty. “It’s not nice to lose games and to lose the Cup final, come third in the Premier League and to go out early in the Champions League is not ideal for this club,” he said. If powering a City revival is not his only objective – “to take Norway to the World Cup, this is my main goal in my career,” he said – his contribution to their cause goes beyond the obvious.

Haaland has a sideline in heading away set-pieces in his own penalty area. “It’s not the nicest thing, but I’m not complaining,” he said. “I prefer to be in the other box but anything to help the team.” It illustrated the attitude that persuaded Guardiola to put him in City’s leadership group. “It’s difficult to find a real, real world class player to be incredibly humble and thinking about what is the best for the team,” he explained. “It was a surprise because normally strikers just think about goals, goals, goals.”

He scored 86 of them in just 89 games for Borussia Dortmund and faces them on Wednesday. They will recognise a familiar face, but also the same person, Haaland thinks. Success, and weight of goals, has not changed him, something that he attributes to his nationality. “I’m a Norwegian guy, and for me, I should not think I am something just because I’m scoring goals, it’s as simple as that. I’m just Erling, and this is something that will never change. I am completely the same person as I was as long as I can remember. I am still that kid from Bryne.”

He has, he said, been working on his headers since training with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mark Dempsey at Molde in 2017. “With headers, I think you can get better,” he said. “You can never get good enough.”

And if that sums up his philosophy, there are some of his numbers that he knows, and which do not relate to goalscoring. His ability to stay onside, he said, owes much to the practice he has done since he was 13.