I spent four weeks getting inside Erling Haaland’s head at Man City – this is what I learned.

I spent four weeks getting inside Erling Haaland’s head at Man City – this is what I learned.

Manchester City youngster Justin Oboavwaduo had a productive pre-season watching Erling Haaland and discussing his game

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It says a lot about Erling Haaland that so much of what he does has to be seen to be believed.

That certainly goes for a strike rate of better than a goal a game in the Premier League into his third season, and also goes for his routine off the pitch. Even players in Manchester City’s academy weren’t sure how much of what is heard about the superstar is real, so seeing Haaland up close in pre-season was certainly eye-opening for young forward Justin Oboavwoduo.

“When I saw Erling with the blue-lights glasses, I thought it was a myth!” he laughs as he recalls the experience with the Manchester Evening News. “It taught me about the little things to make you sleep right, recover right, taking supplements to help them train and perform at the highest level.

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“It’s those one or two per cents that help you get to maximum performance. It’s good being able to see what the top professionals do and then take the little pieces that work for me so that I can get those one and two per cents.”
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Haaland, who has long been an advocate for biohacking and takes his recovery extremely seriously – he has no choice with his frame, if he wants to remain one of the best strikers in the game – wears the special glasses to help his body clock just as he tapes his lips at night. The Norwegian is open to trying unconventional approaches if it maximises his advantage on the pitch.

It is fair to say he is a fairly unconventional fit for a Pep Guardiola team too, a big No.9 playing under a manager who would love to play with 11 No.10s. Haaland has spoken this season of the ‘million dollar question’ of how much he gets involved in the build-up play of the team against staying up front to finish any chances created for him, and that has been an ongoing topic of his time at the Etihad.

If he may well go down as a one-off in the game, it was still invaluable for Oboavwaduo to have a coaching clinic with Haaland in pre-season as he watched him close up on the tour of the United States and spoke about his approach in different situations. The 18-year-old Mancunian enjoyed the best of both worlds, learning new pressing details from Guardiola and getting inside Haaland’s mind.

“You obviously pick up on the analysis that the manager does for his movements and how they look to find him and how he occupies the centre-halves to help create space for other players on the pitch,” Oboavwaduo said. “Sometimes he’s not too involved but it’s for the benefit of the team.
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland has been in sublime form for Manchester City at the start of the Premier League season (Image: Justin Setterfield)

“You’re sometimes sacrificing yourself for the team. it’s all of them details really. Sometimes I get frustrated when I don’t get the ball but if I get the ball in dangerous areas it’s better. When I speak to him, that’s what his trade-offs are.

“He wants to get the ball in areas where he can score where he can hurt the opposition. The analysts work on that, how he trains and how every finish is important to him. He always wants to hit the back of the net and every action is focused.

“Obviously I want to learn from all the attacking players because they are similar to me. I look at Erling, how he moves in the box. He’s a really good player to be able to see his movements and take ideas from. I can play attacking midfield so I look at Kevin, Kova, Jack and Oscar.”

As well as taking tips from the attackers in the squad, Oboavwoduo made sure to take note of everything Guardiola said. The summer tour was the second time the teenager has been away with the first team, having also travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Club World Cup.

It marks progress for an academy player to keep getting invited to help the first team, and Oboavwoduo is looking to show further improvement with the Under-21s. Two goals and an assist from his opening three matches is a promising start.
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“Pre season is a time to get fit but also for a manager and his staff to implement different concepts for the team. Learning different ways to press and build-up really helped me to see what I can bring back to the 21s to hopefully spearhead our season,” he said.

“Last season I would have loved more goals and assists so that is a target of mine this season and make dangerous actions in the final third. I do set myself targets, I try to aim for double digits for goals and assists.

“Whether that is attainable or not depends on the season but it’s good to set yourselves goals because sometimes if you’re working towards nothing you lose motivation. Ultimately I want to help the team so if the numbers suffer but I’m performing better, I’m happy.”

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