Haaland’s list of best strikers: No Messi, Mbappe, Benzema...

When you are a next big thing in a world of football, everybody want’s to hear from you. And if you don’t like doing interviews, than your words are even more interesting, since you are not on TV all the time. That is the case with Erling Haaland, a 20-years old wonder from Borussia Dortmund.

A future mega star, the Norwegian striker already is regularly on the front pages of the world’s most prestigious newspapers and sports portals without even saying a word. His potential transfer from Borussia this summer has been a hot topic, but it’s usually his photo which is on the front page, but it’s rather his agent Mino Raiola talking, or Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc. But this time, Haaland actually spoke for the press.

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Borussia striker gave an interview for the Norwegian VG, and one of the questions was to name strikers who are better than him. The answers were in fact very logical, and some of the choices showed that the young striker is really down to earth guy. The strikers are: Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo, followed by Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Roberto Firmino and, most surprising of the lot, Timo Werner.

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Off course, without giving any explanation, the Norwegian left us all to guess why is somebody on the list and why there are players left out. It is logical to assume that Haaland picked some of the players for their overall quality and contribution to their respective clubs, otherwise, plenty of them should not be on the list. Currently, Sergio Aguero, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Roberto Firmino and Timo Werner don’t have such a successfull season. For example, Chelsea striker scored only 5 goals. Haaland must have thought about Werner at Leipzig, when Timo netted 28 goals in 34 games.

The strikers who are left out of the list are even more impressive: Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Romelu Lukaku, Karim Benzema, Luis Suarez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic among others. Does Haaland thinks he is better than all of them? Maybe Mbappe and Messi are not on the list because they are not pure number 9’s, but others....

Knowing he is not the best at doing interviews, it’s fair to assume Haaland didn’t think so much about this question, but rather thought about first 7 players who came to mind. That is probably why he has four players who are, or were, playing in Bundesliga.

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Before Haaland made a big move to Dortmund, a lot of clubs were willing to sign the young striker, but the Germans were victorious at the end. And apart from a big commission to Riola (which was certainly a big plus), famous Dortmund fans were the reason why Borussia eventually won the race. And it was Erling who actually mentioned it first.

"There were of course a couple of clubs involved, but at the same time I did not know too much about this. But it was I who first mentioned Dortmund to my father. We were sitting at home in Salzburg and watching a game Dortmund played, and I said to him: 'Oi, look at that wall behind the goal. There had been something to play there.' I think he was half asleep on the sofa, but suddenly it became a reality. When I talked to them, I got a good vibe. I felt a little sold after that. What I liked so much about them was how direct they were. They said exactly how it was right for me. I liked that" said Haaland.