Erling Haaland: why Alf-Inge Haaland’s son & new Man City signing could have played for England

Erling Haaland will be swapping the yellow and black of Borussia Dortmund for the blue of Manchester City this summer after the latter agreed a deal for the forward.

The 21-year-old will join the Sky Blues on 1 July after they activated the £51.1m release clause in his contract.

Haaland is one of the world’s most prolific strikers, scoring 85 goals in 88 appearances for Dortmund since joining them in January 2020.

His move to the Etihad Stadium comes with much excitement and anticipation, but what else is there to know about the 21-year-old?

We take a look at four things you might not know about Haaland ahead of his summer move to Pep Guardiola’s side.

Footballing father

Erling won’t be the first Haaland to don the blue of City, with his father Alf-Inge Haaland a member of their team between 2000 and 2003.

Unlike his son, Alf played as a centre-midfielder, while also operating at right-back when called upon.

The 49-year-old made 45 appearances for the Sky Blues, scoring three times and assisting his teammates once before retiring in July 2003.

Where was Haaland born?

Haaland has represented Norway 17 times at senior level working his way through their youth ranks, beginning with their Under-15s. However, he is also eligible to play for England, the country of his birth.

The forward was born in Leeds on 21 July, 2000, while his father was playing for Leeds United, and could have worn Three Lions on his shirt instead of the red of Norway if he wanted.

How tall is Erling Haaland?

Surprisingly this is one of the most searched for questions since the Norwegian’s signing. He stands at a lofty 6ft 4in (1.94m) according to his Wikipedia page.

Standing long jump record

Before Haaland broke onto the football scene he tried his hand at several other sports, including cross-country skiing, handball and athletics.

The latter was arguably the strongest of those, when at the age of five he broke the record for the standing long jump with a distance of 1.63 metres on 22 January, 2006.