'Absolutely top-class' Haaland backed to reach levels of Ronaldo & Messi

Erling Haaland has the right mentality and talent to develop into one of the best players in the world, suggests Lars Lagerback.

Erling Haaland’s stocks have gone up significantly ever since he completed a €22.5 million transfer to Borussia Dortmund in January.

The Norway international took the Bundesliga by storm as he scored a hat-trick within 23 minutes of coming on in his debut match. He went on to score 13 times, helping Dortmund to a second-place league finish.

In total, he bagged 44 goals and registered 10 assists in just 40 games for BVB and RB Salzburg combined in 2019/20.

The young striker continued his goalscoring feats while on international duty as he was found on the scoresheet in Norway‘s opening Nations League match that ended in a 2-1 defeat to Austria.

Norway boss Lars Lagerback is impressed with the rapid progress of the 19-year old as he goes on to claim that only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the recent past were as evolved as him at a similar age.

“I’ve maybe been around too long but I have never seen a guy since maybe Messi or Ronaldo that developed at such a young age,” Lagerback said of Haaland on Sky Sports.

“That’s very unique and he has all the possibilities to become a really world-class player – if you look at the offensive third of the pitch and in the box then he’s already absolutely top class.

“With the qualities he already has and his focused personality – if he can stay free from injury then he can be a really top-class player.”