International Players

Erling Haaland's incredible physical change

By Mauricio Saenz

The Norwegian transformed his body and became a 1.94-meter, 88-kilo scoring machine

The Norwegian transformed his body and became a 1.94-meter, 88-kilo scoring machine

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Since his arrival in Salzburg from Austria, Erling Haaland hasn't stopped growing both sportingly and physically. The Norwegian became one of the most decisive footballers in world football and, as a result of his good present at Borussia Dortmund, he's in the sights of the biggest teams in Europe.

However, this gigantic forward was not always seen as a promise. It is enough to go back a couple of years for one of his teammates in the Molde to assure that, "when he arrived at the club he was a small guy ... he was not very good to say, to be honest".

These words to the specialized website Get French Football News are from the Norwegian defender Ruben Gabrielsen, who shared a team with him between 2017 and 2018. The 29-year-old experienced footballer experienced firsthand how the young attacker's radical change was.

The transformation came after Haaland was injured, his former partner recalled: “He got sick and injured, and we didn't see him for a long time, and he came back big as shit… he was so big! He was a different animal".

“He would kill everyone in training... we started laughing and I would say: Who's this guy? He learned that when difficult things come we have to work harder and he had his reward”, he added.

The little boy mutated from one moment to the next, he gained height but still needed to manage his muscle mass well in the body. It was there that the former footballer and now coach and physical trainer Borre Steenslid appeared, who took care of working the physical part of Haaland while he took his first steps in professional football with Molde.

“He gained twelve kilos of muscle mass in fifteen months. Amazing! It was necessary because he had grown eight inches in a short period of time and his body was unbalanced", said the former defender, who also wore the Norwegian team shirt until 2013.

"We really had to 'reset' it. We build him muscles from scratch...", he explained to the Spanish newspaper As in May of last year, adding: "His plate was literally a mountain full of food" every time he sat at the club's buffet.

About his specialized training, Steenslid portrayed an anecdote: "I designed a circuit for him where in one of the stations he had to hit a bag... and one day he tore it in half".

However, the former soccer player acknowledged that beyond his contribution to the physical preparation of the young prodigy, the results could be given due to his good genetics: “His body responds so well to training because the genetics of he is privileged”.

 


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