Back in the 1990’s Manchester United were arguably the most consistently dominant side in Europe over the course of the decade.
Legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson made a habit of building and developing sides to change and evolve in order to stay on top.
Throughout this period one of the best and arguably underrated players in the United squad was the Norwegian forward Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Now the forward is a coach in his own right currently in charge of Norwegian side Molde FK and he is currently coaching a young forward who is heavily linked to following his footsteps and moving to Manchester, the 18 year old Erling Braut Haaland.
If the name is familiar to those that remember the game in the 90’s then he is the son of the former Manchester City player Alf-Inge Haaland.
Unlike his father however Erling is a forward full of power and pace that is perhaps the very prototype of the modern forward.
Manchester United are not the only side to be strongly linked to the forward with teams as disparate as Juventus, Leeds United and the Red Bull clubs all being heavily credited with interest in the forward.
In terms of his appearance and physical build Haaland is something of a throwback with his powerful build resembling an old fashioned centre forward.
That illusion however is shattered when Haaland receives the ball to his feet and showcases his control and technical ability.
He excels at taking the ball in to his body and then pushing it past the closest defender, a movement that makes you think he has lost control of the ball before he powers past the defensive player and moves in to space.
He is equally aggressive out of possession looking to constantly move to pressure the man in possession and he is intelligent in the way that he cuts off available passing lanes to win the ball back.
Let’s look at a few examples of his strengths.
Aggressive Pressing
Erling Haaland is equally comfortable playing as part of a front two or as a lone forward but in either role his aggressive playing style lends itself well to a high pressing system.
There are occasions where he is obviously instructed to sit in a more passive defensive block but even then he will look to move laterally across the field in order to cut obvious passing lanes to prevent the opposition from playing past his line of pressure comfortably.
Normally we see Haaland move to press and close down the man in possession often chasing the ball aggressively in order to force the opponent to make an error.
Here we see Haland pressing as the lone striker for Molde.
The opposition player in possession has two passing options open to him with one across to the other central defender and one to the screening midfielder.
