9 goals in 5 matches: Erling Haaland's touch shows why he has been earmarked for greatness

Norway’s Erling Haaland was born in England on July 21, 2000 – just a month after his father, Alf-Inge, signed for Manchester City from Leeds United ahead of a new Premier League season. The family connection is one of the reasons why Haaland made the move to the blue half of Manchester for a fee of 60 million euros from German club Borussia Dortmund in June, and it’s perhaps why he has taken no time to acclimatise to his new surroundings. Five games in, he’s already showing that he’s the real deal at his boyhood club.

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With successive hat-tricks in the last two games against Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace and a brace in the opening game of the season against West Ham, the 6’5” centre-forward has already taken his goal count to nine. For the record, no player has scored more goals in their first five Premier League games than the 22-year-old – neither Eric Cantona nor Thierry Henry nor any of those other great strikers who have graced England’s top division. Haaland’s prolific start to life in the Premier League is in sync with his track record: he scored eight goals each in his first five appearances in the Bundesliga and Champions League too.

His nine goals so far make for an interesting highlights package given the variety involved. There are goals from headers, simple tap-ins and clever runs in behind the opponent’s back line. Against the newly-promoted Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, for instance, his first goal – which came in the 12th minute with his first touch of the ball – was simply a case of him outmuscling defender Joe Worrall within the 18-yard box and getting ahead of him to be on the end of a cross by Phil Foden.

If his physicality shone through in the opening goal, his intuitive knack to be at the right place at the right time and shrewd link-up play were evident in the other two goals. For the second, he received a pass from Ilkay Gundogan just outside the 18-yard box and had the awareness to know that Phil Foden was to his right. He took a touch before passing it to the Englishman and continuing his run, eventually getting the ball back for a simple finish with his weaker right foot. The hat-trick was completed inside 38 minutes, heading the ball into the goal from close range after lurking in the middle of the six-yard box. It was a trademark poacher’s goal, the kind that all insatiable strikers pride themselves on. That his nine goals have come with just 101 touches is an apt reflection of his precision and sharpness inside the box.

Haaland’s towering frame obviously means that he has the bodily attributes to cope with the inherent physicality of the game in England, but he’s also quick and agile enough to leave defenders on their backsides when needed. Rewind to his second goal in the first game of the season against West Ham. It was past the 60-minute mark, but as soon as Kevin de Bruyne received the ball near the halfway line, Haaland made himself available for a piercing through ball with a gut-busting dash past the West Ham defenders before nonchalantly slotting the ball into the back of the net.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola paid Haaland the highest compliment when he compared him with the club’s all-time highest goalscorer, Sergio Aguero, on Wednesday night. “Sergio is a legend. Erling has the quality to be there. When City bought Erling, everybody talked about what he has done in the past. What we wanted to do is help him. Hopefully, he can enjoy and score more goals,” Guardiola said after the win over Notts Forest

While Aguero was the type of forward right up Guardiola’s alley, Haaland has a wider range of attributes up his sleeve. City’s attacking players can now deliver a greater number of crosses into the box and make use of Haaland’s aerial presence rather than finding their way through an opponent’s defence with just intricate passes. It makes City – who are looking for a third consecutive league title – an even more lethal force going forward, and that’s an ominous sign for all their rivals.

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