Erling Haaland made history last night, hitting the headlines on the world stage. The 19-year-old became the third-youngest player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League.
Haaland, son of former Leeds United player Alf-Inge, netted his three goals in the opening 45 minutes of Salzburg's 6-2 thrashing of Genk.
Rewind 19 years and Erling Braut Haaland was born in Leeds in July 2000, a short time after his father departed Elland Road for Manchester City after three years in West Yorkshire.
Haaland Junior caught the eye of then-Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho in 2018 while playing for now-Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Molde in Norway. He netted four goals in 17 minutes in front of a United scout at the time. Not bad.
Last night's heroics for Saltzburg come as reports suggest Arsenal are the latest Premier League club interested in his signature.
And while the prospects of a move to the Premier League sound like a dream come true for the youngster, he does in fact have career ambitions with none other than Leeds United.
In a 2017 interview, speaking to Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten , Haaland said:
“I want to be the best possible.
“The dream is to win the Premier League with Leeds. In addition, the goal is to become a better player than my dad was. I hope to get more caps than he did.”
And ever since, fans have called for the Whites to sign him up. Maybe this latest performance will catch Marcelo Bielsa's eye..
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