Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is ‘most excited’ to face Leeds during his debut Premier League season, rather than the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea.
Haaland has made a flying start to life in English football, scoring 18 times in his first 13 Premier League appearances prior to the World Cup break – including a Manchester derby hat-trick.
But Leeds boss Jesse Marsch has revealed he received a message from the City star before the season began telling him that the clash with Leeds in the Boxing Day round of fixtures was the one above any others he was most looking out for.
“[Haaland] texted me as soon as the schedule came out. He said he’s most excited for Boxing Day,” Marsch revealed ahead of City visiting Elland Road on 28 December.
“I gave him permission to have a small hamstring injury for that match!” the American joked.
“He was born in Leeds, his father has history here and he has the club in his heart because of that. We have talked about; when I got the job, him and his father were supportive. We’ll expect him to be fully ready and that causes issues for us.”
Haaland’s father, Alf Inge, spent three years as a Leeds player from 1997 until 2000 during a 10-year career in English football. The City player spoke about his fondness for Leeds earlier in his career and even a desire to win the Premier League with his hometown club.
Due to his place of birth, Haaland was technically eligible to play international football for England. But it was a ‘natural’ choice to pick Norway given that the family left England and returned to Scandinavia before he had even turned four years old.
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Credit: 90min.com
