Ole Gunnar Solskjaer recalls former Molde and Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland as a player who has a great personality.
Solskjaer reveals that the sensational Bundesliga striker suffered a bad knee injury when he joined Molde. Solskjaer said he is a winner, recalls him taking down their central defenders and midfielders.
Despite this physical setback, Haaland has stood up to be one of the greatest strikers in the world. At the age of 20 years, he has scored 33 goals, 8 assists in 31 appearances this season.
Solskjaer says his personality is second to none and he knew the Norwegian had the potential to be the best.
“Yeah. You can see the personality. He came as a 16-year-old, of course. You never know with injuries, he struggled really badly with bad knees when he came. But I could see someone with a personality,” Solskjaer talked about Haaland.
“I remember him brushing off and putting our center-back and center midfielders, two big, massive lads, he put them on the floor and asked them to get up. He’s a winner,” he recalled.
“He’s got a great personality, of course, he’s proving to everyone how good a player he is.
“We played against Zenit in the Europa League play-off and the referee came to me after and said, ‘He’ll play in the Champions League soon.’ We did know,” the former Molde coach added.
“He’s a top personality. I played with Alf (Haaland’s father). He’s a bit old school in that respect,” Solskjaer said.
Haaland has been the subject of this coming summer’s transfer window. The Dortmund strike has impressed, with both Manchester giants and Chelsea chasing his signature.
Haaland’s father had hinted in his comments about Manchester United that his son could join the Old Trafford outfits. Solskjaer has been maintaining contact with Haaland and that could give him an upper hand in his signature.