Erling Haaland, the most sought-after forward in Europe, said he can’t wait to get going at the Etihad only five years after he was playing in Norway
own to Erling Haaland’s left, his father Alfie stood among the large crowd that had been happy to swelter outside the Etihad Stadium for a view of Manchester City’s new centre-forward. Straight ahead he could see a couple of Norway flags and, dotted around, any number of placards optimistically requesting a signed shirt.
In fairness Haaland has already won four trophies, three of them in Austria with Red Bull Salzburg. He was referring to the biggest prizes around but the state of envy will probably not last long. Even if City must diversify their approach in order to accommodate a 6ft 5in reference point up front, his arrival is highly unlikely to make them worse domestically; the bigger hope is he will push them over the line at Champions League level.
From Monday, when City report for their first day of pre-season, Haaland will be immersed in it. In his address to the supporters on the stadium’s external concourse, he made it clear the preparatory phase cannot pass quickly enough: that the start of competitive action will be the real time to, as he put it repeatedly throughout the afternoon, have fun.