‘It’s a mixture that makes him so difficult to stop. He’s unique’

Erling Haaland continues the great tradition of Norwegians in England, and he already looks like he could be the best

When Alf-Inge Haaland made his Nottingham Forest debut in February 1994, featuring in a resounding win over Leicester, it was the latest step in a quiet revolution that helped define the Premier League’s course. Haaland and his compatriot Lars Bohinen were heavily involved in Forest’s return to the top flight that spring and, back then, neither player could have predicted where Norway’s influence on English football would lead.

“We were kind of pioneers at the time,” says Bohinen, who joined Forest from Young Boys that season, of the influx that crossed the North Sea. “We didn’t make any waves, we were just constantly being professional and producing performances. I think that’s why we had so many players doing well in England.”

Erling Haaland became the 74th Norwegian to play in the Premier League upon debuting for Manchester City last August, following in his father’s footsteps 28 and a half years on; should he fire them to Champions League success and a treble tomorrow he will match the achievements of

Alf-Inge Haaland in action for Manchester City in August 2000

Ronny Johnsen and, famously, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 1999. The English league’s primacy will be underlined if City win and there is a lineage back to the days when Norway’s exports helped it on its way.

“We were a decent generation of players but we were also able to

adapt quickly,” says Bohinen of the 1990s brood. “When one succeeded then so did the next, and the third. It became a sort of snowball effect.”

Before the Bosman ruling opened up Europe’s transfer market, Norwegians were the Premier League’s must-have foreign accessory. Between 1992 and the end of 1995 their representatives totalled 13; Swedes and Danes, by contrast, accounted for eight apiece. Cultural similarities helped, as did English

football’s increased awareness that it needed to look outwards; the high performance of Egil Olsen’s international side held attraction, too. The Forest pair achieved quick success after promotion with a third-placed finish in 1994-95 and forged a bond that remains strong.

“We didn’t know each other well before he came but we were quite similar,” Bohinen says of Haaland. “We brought the hardworking outlook that I think was the main reason we succeeded, because