The Erling Haaland Hype: What Makes Him So Good?

People are probably running out of things to say about Erling Haaland.

And understandably so, too.

It’s been well-publicised that he is the youngest player to score 20 Champions League goals, and the fastest player to get that amount of goals in the competition’s history too.

On top of these records and a host of others, in Haaland’s short time at Borussia Dortmund so far he has amassed 40 goals in 47 games in all competitions and made nine assists.

To highlight just how good his finishing has been in this time period, his xG is 29.68, outperforming this total by 10.32.

Whilst Dortmund have faltered as a side this season, Haaland hasn’t and sits joint second with Andre Silva in the Bundesliga top scorers list behind, of course, Bayern Munichs Robert Lewandowski.

However, what Haaland is achieving is totally unprecedented.

The previous record holder for being the youngest player to hit 20 goals in the Champions League was a certain Kylian Mbappe, and Mbappe completed this feat 10 days before his 22nd birthday.

Haaland is still 20.

Even more impressive was that Haaland hit these goals in just 14 Champions League games.

The previous record was Harry Kane’s 20 in 24 games. 

In short, Haaland is scoring goals at an alarming rate, and for a player of such a tender age, he is doing many things to suggest that his goalscoring isn’t going to slow down at any time.

This Erling Haaland tactical analysis and scout report will highlight what makes Haaland such a potent attacking force.

Erling Haaland Data Analysis

To understand Haaland’s ability as a forward, it’s important to look at his data in context.

Whilst we could look at it against other Bundesliga forwards, I’ve decided to take a larger sample size and compare his statistics from this season with strikers from Europe’s top five leagues  La Liga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A, and the Premier League.

I have only included those who have played at least 1000 minutes this season.

Before we even talk about his pace, he has the frame of a target man, standing at 1.94m.

Whilst he is lean, Haaland will undoubtedly put on more muscle as he ages.

Maybe this will lead to a slight drop in his pace, but even if he were to lose that aspect of his game, he’s less likely to fade as a result as some quick strikers have done in the past.

This is partly due to his physical potential, among other aspects of his game.

Whilst he competes in a below-average amount of aerial duels, he wins an above-average 47.3% when ranked against the forwards in Europe’s top five.

Before looking at how his actual goals and expected goals rank against his peers across Europe, we can look at whether he is getting a high amount of touches in the box per 90, and if he’s using these touches to get a high amount of shots away.

The answer is yes to both  emphatically so.