On the 23rd of July last year, we published an analysis of a young player who was starting to make significant waves in football.
That player was the young Norwegian forward Erling Braut Haaland.
At the time of writing the forward player was still playing his football with his boyhood club Molde, in his native Norway.
We ended the article by stating our hope that Haaland would make a smart move when he left Molde as the giants of European football were circling and that it was all too easy for a young player to have his head turned.
Thankfully we need not have been concerned.
The young forward player did leave Norway but his move was to Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga.
In pure qualitative terms, you could argue that there is not much difference between the Norwegian Eliteserien and the Austrian Bundesliga but in terms of clubs, Red Bull Salzburg are on a whole other level.
Renowned for identifying, recruiting and developing young players Salzburg is the perfect platform for a player like Haaland.
With that said, however, there are already rumblings that the Norwegian may not be at the club for long with his performances so far this season only serving to attract more potential suitors.
Given the rate of development that we have seen from Haaland over the last 15 months, we felt as though the time was right to write a fresh analysis of his game.
In this tactical analysis, we will discuss the individual components that make Haaland a special talent.
Erling Haaland Statistical Breakdown
Our scout report will analyse Haaland from the tactical perspective, and first of all, its worth looking into his season so far from a statistical perspective, especially because those statistics are so startling.
To date, at club level, he has played 713 first-team minutes over the course of 9 matches.
In that time he has already scored 14 times and assisted 4 more.
That gives a total of 1.77 goals and 0.5 assists per 90 minutes.
The other underlying statistics that are notable for a forward player are equally impressive.
The youngster has so far registered 4.8 shots at goal per 90, 4.92 dribbles per 90 and 2.15 ball recoveries in the opposition half per 90.
The shot map for the young forward so far this season also paints an interesting picture.
He is adept at shooting from all areas of the final third but his shot selection is largely limited, with one or two exceptions, to the 18-yard-box.
He
