Erling Haaland's Former Teammate Recalls How Norwegian Became 'Big as F**k'
By Tom Gott
A former teammate of Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland has revealed that the Norwegian wasn't always the half-man, half-skyscraper which we know today.
Haaland was just 16 years old when he joined Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Molde side in 2017, but he initially struggled to make much of an impact, bagging just four goals in 20 appearances in his debut season.
Speaking to Get French Football News, former Molde captain Ruben Gabrielsen revealed that the squad actually had their doubts about Haaland to begin with, only for him to shock everyone with his physical transformation.
"When he came to the club, he was a small guy...he was not so good to be honest with you," Gabrielsen confessed. "I was just thinking 'Yeah, maybe he can play in Norway'. And then he got sick and injured, and we didn’t see him for a long time, and he came back big as f**k. He was so big! He was a different animal!
"He was killing everybody in training. We just started laughing and I was like, 'Who is this guy?' And then it just skyrocketed from there. I’m just laughing when I see him on the telly and he’s banging in goals in the Champions League. I’m just laughing. And when he bullies defenders, I’m just laughing because I’ve been there!"
Haaland managed to bag 12 goals in his second season with Molde, earning himself a switch to Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg in January 2019. Since then, the youngster has exploded. The goals have come flooding in for Haaland, who has blossomed into one of the most wanted strikers around.
29 goals in 27 appearances for Salzburg, including strikes against both Liverpool and Napoli in the Champions League, saw pretty much every team on the planet take notice of him, but it was Borussia Dortmund who won the race for his signature.
He didn't waste much time getting into the swing of things in Germany, bagging 12 goals in just 11 outings before football was postponed, so it's not just Molde defenders who have been bullied by Frankenstein's monster himself.
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