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Topics: Erling Haaland, Manchester City, Cristiano Ronaldo
Daniel Marland
Topics: Erling Haaland, Manchester City, Cristiano Ronaldo
Erling Haaland has copied Cristiano Ronaldo's diet off the pitch to become one of the best young players in the world on it.
The 21-year-old completed his transfer to Manchester City on Monday morning and he'll have the Premier League on notice already.
Haaland scored 29 goals in 30 appearances for Borussia Dortmund this season and he's only going to get better.
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According to his father, Alf-Inge, Haaland heard a story about Ronaldo's first stint at Manchester United and it completely changed his mindset.
"I had to be determined to make it in the game. But Erling made all the sacrifices, leaving home at 16 to move to Molde, and he is a lot more professional than I was," Alf-Inge told ESPN back in 2019.
"He was told a story by Patrice Evra about a lunch he had with Ronaldo and Cristiano had fish, nothing else.
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"Erling now tries to do the same things because Ronaldo is 34 and still at the top of the game, so it shows the value of doing the right things.
"Erling has always been talented. You see lots of talented young players, but not all of them have the determination."
Haaland was an RB Salzburg player at the time and had just burst onto the scene with a string of quality performances in the Champions League.
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The Norway international would join Borussia Dortmund in January 2020 and continued to bang in the goals for fun, ending his career in Germany with 86 goals in 89 games.
He won the DFB-Pokal in 2021 but Dortmund never came close to challenging Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title.
City, meanwhile, have won the Premier League in four of the last five years so medals are close to a guarantee.
Alf-Inge, who also played for City in his career, continued: "I have always seen hunger in Erling. From a young age, 11 or 12, he would go out on his own to an indoor hall, practice his skills and play against older boys.
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"He always had that inner will to make himself better. Maybe that is what he inherited from me, because I never had his talent."
Ronaldo is back at Old Trafford for a second stint and Haaland will line up against him in the Manchester derby next campaign.