The week before his first Premier League match with Manchester City, Erling Haaland spoke to Alan Shearer and gave a fascinating insight into his personality. "You have to go into the game hungry. It doesn’t matter what happened before, if you scored three goals, if you scored zero goals, if you haven’t scored in a while," Haaland told Shearer.
Throughout his rip-roaring debut season, in which he scored a jaw-dropping 52 goals from 53 games, Haaland has always stayed hungry. Whether he had not scored for a couple of games or had netted a hat-trick, he was as motivated in the next game, ready to strike again.
Haaland had pretty much the perfect first season in England, on every level. He fired City to the Premier League title, the FA Cup and, best of all, helped them finally win the Champions League, the trophy he had craved the most. He also won the Golden Boot as top scorer in the Premier League with an astonishing 36 goals, more than any player in the league's 31-year history.
And now he has won the Men's PFA Players' Player of the Year Award, a fitting recognition for his achievements. GOAL pays tribute to the record-breaking Norwegian, who has been an absolute joy to watch, even for rival fans. Defenders, on the other hand, have been given endless nightmares, however. And the bad news for them? He's only just getting started...