This man right here (y’know, the one that we’ll be talking about today) is such a throwback that people were tying to cancel his impactfulness, with some even considering that he was making Manchester City less effective (which is simply ridiculous). It has absolutely surprised me how hungry Erling is to simply just score goals. I mean, there are lots of players who currently play the game out of the joy that they have for when the ball is at their feet, but Haaland seems like he absolutely hates everything else about football except for scoring (obviously, I’m only kidding…).
Erling Braut Haaalnd comes from a sports family since his father, Alfie Haaland played at a very high level and made almost 200 appearances in the Barclays Premier League, while his Mother, Gry Maurita Braut, was an accomplished athlete. So, Erling was already genetically composed with some exceptional athletic genes, but let’s not allow that to take away from the fact that he is a man who is on a single minded goal of becoming the greatest goal scorer we’ve ever seen.
Haaland (the son, not the father) put his name on the map when he scored 9 goals for Norway at the U-20 World cup against Honduras in 2020, and was then swooped up by the Red Bull company, signing for RB Salzburg who are considered one of the best clubs for youngsters to get that all too important first team experience (which comes with playing in the UCL as well). After killing it in Austria, he came to a crossroad within his career. He could either go straight to the top and sign for Manchester United (who were then in shambles with Ole Gunner Solksjaer at the wheel…), or he could continue his development at a higher level, but not one of the elite clubs via joining Borussia Dortmund… And, as we have come to know, he absolutely made the best decision for his career since he was an absolute sensation during his time in Germany with a ridiculous 62 goals scored in just 67 appearences! He was then ofcourse on the radar for EVERY elite club under the sun, but it was Manchester City who ended up caputiring the Norweigan for what may turn out to be the Bargain of the Decade: a measely $52M pounds.
We all know what happened afterwards… Haaland’s first season at the club is a testament of his character, and I hope he is doing as much as he possibly can to stay injury free and never loses that burning desire to be an absolute goal monster.
PLAYER BIO
The Machine stands at a whopping 6’4″ (which is the equivalent to 194 cm) and he continually displays all of his strength and power in almost every game he plays via being an absolute nightmare to mark for almost every D(C) on the planet. And the most terrifying thing about this guy is that he’s only 23 years old!!!
BEST ATTRIBUTES WITHIN SM24
With the way in which Haaland has been operating this year it brings us no surprise to see that his rating has increased from ’92’ to ’94’ and whilst there was an issue regarding his ‘Concentration’ being in the 70’s in SM23, it brings us joy to know that it is back to where it should be since Haaland is without shadow of doubt one of the most focused F(C)’s in the world based on how little he touches the ball and how often he gets on the score sheet (takes elite levels of concentration to do that). Every other aspect of his best attributes are as expected, albeit we personally believe that his ‘Penalties’ should be slightly higher…
BEST ROLES
Similarly to Kylian, Erling is someone who has the ability to specialize in various different roles, but the major difference is that he only operates as a F(C) which means that his preffered roles are as a “Finisher’, and as an ‘Explosive Target Man’No matter what the formation you choose, Erling will play exactly the same no matter which role you decide to give himThere’s only a slight difference between both roles, and we’ll be going over them later on within the episode…I highly advise that you play Erling as your one and only Striker, but if you choose to use him within a front 2, that’s your decision, but I won’t be going over it within today’s episode….
HOW TO BEST USE HIM
Erling has showed us during his one season so far at Manchester City that he is someone who is not a fan of having the ball at his feet. So, I personally believe that his best position and role will be as your main F(C), and as a ‘Finisher’. But, like I stated earlier, there isn’t that much of a difference between him as a ‘Finisher, and as an ‘E.T.M’
WHO ARE THE BEST TEAMATES?
 
Out of all of the Target Man or Finisher style F(C)’s out there, Haaland trumps them when it comes to being a natural goal scorer. So, no matter what formation you play, you should stack your team with as many creative players that you possibly can When you choose to use the 4-3-3 (remember, only the B version), the same thing applies. A lot of creativity coming from defence, midfield and out wide So, the major difference between Erling the ‘Finisher, and Erling the ‘Explosve Target Man’ is where he will play when you have long spells of possession. As an ‘Explosive Target Man’ there will be times when Erling has to drop deep in order to get a touch of the ball (since that’s how the ‘Target Man’ role works), while Erling the ‘Finisher’ is solely focused on staying on the last man within the opposition’s defence, stretching the opponent and using his ridiculous movement to always have them second guessing. It must be mentioned that he‘ll also do this while playing as an ‘E.T.M’, but to the slightest of lesser extentsIn a back 3 formation, the same thing goes: CREATE. CREATE. CREATE. It will be to his advantage, and we’ve already seen what Erling can do when he is surrounded by an abundance of ‘assist first’ type of teammates
Erling Braut Haaalnd… The man who potentially will be the closest rival to Kylian Mbappe when it comes to the one sitting on the throne for the next 10-15 years. They have both showed their world class abilities in abundance so far, and have their careers ahead of them. Do they really have the drive and determination to be going at it for the next decade? Only time will tell…
Tomorrow, we end season 7 by looking at the man who simply has nothing else left to prove and is considered the greatest player that our beloved sport has ever seen (Oh wait, you thought I forgot about him, didn’t you…. 😉 🇦🇷)
The Soccermanager Experience 
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