Borussia Dortmund striker, Erling Haaland has heaped praise on his fellow teammate, Jadon Sancho, saying the Manchester United target is one of many reasons he feels so vindicated by his decision to join the Bundesliga club.
Haaland scored 29 goals in 27 appearances for Red Bull Salzburg before being snapped up by the BVB. His fantastic stats see clubs like Manchester United and Real Madrid queuing up for his signature during the January 2020 transfer window.
The decision to join the BVB according to him was because of their reputation for giving top-level youngsters the platform to shine.
Haaland wasted no time in settling into the squad scoring 16 goals in 18 games during the second half of 2019/20. The highlight of his season was a 20-minute hat-trick on his Bundesliga debut in a 5-3 win over Augsburg. The assist for his Bundesliga opener came from the boots of Sancho, who swapped Manchester City for the club at the age of 17.
Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho understood each other
The dynamic duo has proved to be an instant hit in the German league. This is why Man United is making frantic effort to sign him this summer.
“The levels of performance are so high and from the first second, we just understood each other. Jadon is obviously a fantastic footballer and he can reach the very top,” Haaland told Soccerbible.
Haaland and Sancho have been involved in 68 Bundesliga goals in 78 games. They are examples of teen titans turned footballing superheroes on Dortmund’s watch.
Following the path of USA international Christian Pulisic is Gio Reyna as well. Pulisic who left the BVB for Chelsea played in upwards of 100 first-team matches during a record-breaking five-year stint at the Signal Iduna Park.
17-year-old Reyna, 17 is currently making all the right noises with the first team. The new ruling means goal-scoring phenom Youssoufa Moukoko could be unleashed as well on the Bundesliga as early as November 2020, once he turns 16.
“Just in general how the club has been developing younger players for the however many years, that’s also something that triggered me,”
“You see some big names that have played here. I think me and my father and the people around me we did good with the choice about the club and the people in the club that made me want to go there and the feeling about the club. And also, almost from the first second I felt like I belonged there. So from there it just got more and more easy to perform and to train and to be yourself very quickly. For me that’s important.
“In the end, it’s just about your feeling. Where is your best feeling? And for me this time it was Dortmund. And yeah, my feeling was right.”
Haaland closed out 2019/20 with a remarkable 13 goals in 15 Bundesliga matches. He will now begin his first full season as a Dortmund player on 14 September, when they face 3. Liga club Duisburg in the DFB Cup first round. They will then play Borussia Mönchengladbach on Bundesliga Matchday 1 five days later.
The 20-year-old Norwegian is arguably the biggest threat to Bayern Munich counterpart Robert Lewandowski’s chances of claiming a fourth successive top scorer’s cannon.
“I always put a lot of pressure on myself, but I’m a bit ruthless. I always want more; I’m always hungry for more. That’s a part of me.”
