Erling Haaland is showing the world what the Premier League has been fearing for the past four years as the big Norwegian continues to find the back of the net at the World Cup. The 25-year-old has scored an incredible 162 goals in 198 games for Manchester City since moving from Borussia Dortmund in 2022. His goalscoring at Molde and Red Bull Salzburg saw the Bundesliga giants beat a host of European clubs to sign the 6ft 4 striker.
Early Life and Family
The son of former Leeds United and Manchester City player Alfie Haaland and former women's heptathlon athlete Gry Marita Braut, Haaland was always destined to be an athletic freak. He started at his first club Bryne, where he met his childhood sweetheart and mother of his child, Isabel Haugseng Johansen. The couple played at the club in their homeland before Haaland embarked on his career to become one of the best strikers in the world, and Isabel has been there every step of the way.
Speaking about how they met, Haaland risked Isabel's wrath by telling Norwegian broadcaster NRK: “She sent me a message. She played in the same club as me, Bryne. She was the one who checked me out. I wasn't the one who checked her out.” He went on to shed light on their typical romantic evening, saying: “I cook. This will probably sound a bit embarrassing to her, but she likes to play [video games]. So we play Minecraft together. We build houses and all that. Or we go home to Bryne and order kebabs.”
Viking Diet and Recovery
Haaland eats a 'Viking diet', more like a man experimenting on his body rather than a footballer. The big striker devours roughly 6,000 calories a day, nearly double a regular active man's needs and more than most professional athletes. The Norwegian smashes down steaks, eggs, fish, honey and milk while also being incredibly partial to heart and liver. He stated he cares about his body and will only fuel with food as local and clean as possible.
Haaland's recovery is also finely tuned with him boasting a £50,000 cryotherapy chamber at home as well as ice baths, red light therapy and daily physio. He also gets himself to bed early, turns screens off and wears blue light blocking glasses.
Social Media and YouTube Pranks
When he's not taking a break from his phone and social media, Haaland enjoys taking to Snapchat and posting on his stories for his followers to get a glimpse into his life. Everything from behind the scenes at City's training to him using bald filters to tease a shock new hairstyle has been posted on his account. Haaland is also a huge fan of YouTube and has appeared in a number of videos with internet stars like KSI.
He recently appeared in a video with the new Dagenham & Redbridge owner where the pair rated celebrity lookalikes on a scale out of 10. A Marilyn Monroe entered to be judged by the pair - but Haaland was left confused by who she was supposed to be. KSI was quick to clock it was Monroe, but Haaland thought otherwise. "I thought it was Sweeney at first," he said. "I was thinking of her." The short clip from the video quickly went viral on social media.
World Cup Performance
Haaland has four goals in two games in this year's tournament and he could fire Norway to finish top of Group I if they beat France at 8pm on Friday night.
