'Arsenal could have got him': ex-Molde scout explains how Gunners missed the trick with Haaland

Arsenal were among the clubs that missed the trick with Erling Haaland who started his professional career at Molde, according to John Vik who was a chief scout at that club.

"I think they (the English scouts) looked at him as a target man because he was so big," Vik told The Athletic.

"I kept telling them, 'He’s not a target man – if you’re going to judge him that way, you’re going to be disappointed'.

"I remember one occasion when the team were out in Spain. I was with some of my colleagues from Premier League clubs and I remember saying, 'I have to repeat myself, guys, don’t judge him as a target man, you have to look beyond that. He runs in between, he chases space, he’s fantastic in the box, he’s that kind of player'.

"I was thinking to myself, 'Am I the guy who is getting it wrong? Am I seeing this the wrong way?'

"But there has always been this perception with some English clubs that a striker needs to look a certain way, and that a centre-half needs to look a certain way, and you need a certain frame for a certain role. When they were seeing a big striker like Erling, they were seeing a target man and I think they forgot to look at what else he could do.

"Liverpool could have got him. Arsenal could have got him. Everyone was there to watch him but these clubs were seeing a No 9 who was tall and broad and, 'Oh, he’s going to be a target man'. I couldn’t for the life of me see why they had narrowed him down that way.

"I didn’t like him with his back towards the goal and, at the time, he couldn’t really head the ball. I liked it when he turned round, when he chased into pockets, when he ran between the lines, his movement in the box. He didn’t want to hold the ball up, he just wanted to turn and go. There will be a lot of clubs kicking themselves because we can all see now what he is good at."

Haaland ended up leaving Molde for Red Bull Salzburg in the summer of 2018. Just four years later, Haaland who had already established himself as one of the headliners of the new generation of players joined Man City and has already scored 10 goals in 6 Premier League games.

Of course, we're only left to wonder if the Norwegian would've torn the Premier League apart if he had joined Arsenal all those years back. From his career's perspective, though, everything has played out brilliantly.

Source: The Athletic