Thierry Henry full of praise for ‘lethal’ Erling Haaland… and former Arsenal striker feels Borussia Dortmund sensation’s ‘cockiness’ is part of what makes him one of the best in the world
- Thierry Henry joined Jamie Carragher for Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football
- The pair talked two in-form young strikers in Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe
- On Haaland, Henry feels he is ‘lethal’ and is a ‘ridiculous’ finisher in front of goal
- He was criticised for his behaviour against Sevilla but Henry likes the ‘cockiness’
Thierry Henry believes ‘lethal’ Erling Haaland‘s early success is down to his desire to stay right in front of the goal – and not follow team-mates in being dragged out of position.
Many strikers in the modern game can find themselves running out to the wing to get more involved but in the eyes of Henry, Haaland’s selfishness in his positioning is a big factor in his success at Red Bull Salzburg, and now at Borussia Dortmund.
‘He doesn’t care about anything other than the goal,’ Henry, appearing as a pundit on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show, said.
Erling Haaland has been described a ‘lethal’ striker with ‘ridiculous’ finishing, by Thierry Henry
‘Other players will go on the wing – he wants to stay within the frame of the net. Between the two posts, he knows he is lethal.
‘He’s so powerful, by the way. He just wants to run in behind and the way he finishes is ridiculous. The ability that he has: he believes so much in himself, and I like that.
‘There’s a bit of cockiness about him, if I can use that word. You’ve got to look at people and say, “I’m going to score.”
Haaland (right) was criticised for taunting Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou (left) after scoring a penalty. For Henry, the striker’s ‘cockiness’ is important in his own self-belief to score
‘He doesn’t want to go anywhere else other than to score goals – that’s his mind. It’s middle, middle or wide, wide, middle.’
Haaland, who has scored 37 goals in just 35 games for Dortmund and Norway this season, is one of Europe’s most wanted players heading into the summer transfer window with Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid all admirers of him.
There are faint hopes at Dortmund that they will be able to keep their star man this summer but chief Michael Zorc insists that improving their standing in Germany is critical if they wish to keep their top stars.
The likes of Haaland and Jadon Sancho have long been linked with moves away from Signal Iduna Park, but while they are in Europe’s premier competition, it gives them a reason to stay.
Haaland has emerged as one of Europe’s brightest talents – stats from www.sofascore.com
‘We don’t want to play in the Europa League on Thursdays. We want to give our calling card in the Champions League,’ he told Welt am Sonntag.
Speaking further on the need to keep Haaland after a blistering first full season with the club, Zorc added: ‘I have never seen someone like him. We can search Europe-wide. If he ever left us somewhere, there would only be a handful of clubs, but we’ll try to keep him as long as possible for sporting reasons.’
Last week, Sportsmail revealed that United’s local rivals, Manchester City, are leading the chase for Haaland, with Real Madrid and Chelsea also keen.
The former Salzburg star is said to be looking for a contract worth £350,000 a week should he leave Dortmund this summer.
United thought they had a deal tied up for Haaland in January of last year after Solskjaer flew to Austria for talks with his fellow Norwegian, but the striker made a £19.5m move to Germany instead.