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Erling Haaland is in remarkable form for Manchester City this season and part of the secret to his goalscoring exploits is the fact he is so rarely offside.
Erling Haaland believes VAR has helped him score more goals - because he is so good at timing his runs to make sure he beats the offside trap.
The Manchester City striker has a remarkable 26 goals in 16 games for club and country this season and is in the form of his life, with his tally for the Blues now standing at 141 goals in 159 games.
All of those have come in the Premier League's VAR era and although dissent against the system is often widespread throughout the game, Haaland has bucked the trend by coming out in support of it.
But it only benefits the Norwegian because he has spent a dozen years perfecting his ability to stay onside. So seriously does he take his efforts to avoid being flagged for breaching the last line of defence that he could reel off his offside stats during his time in the Premier League.
Haaland has been flagged offside 18 times in 107 Premier League games and he is yet to be caught offside at all in the league this season, but there is nothing fortunate about those numbers, according to the man himself.
Instead, a player obsessed with scoring goals said he had practiced staying onside since he was a 13-year-old coming through at Bryne in Norway.
"It’s not the first season when I was barely offside," said Haaland. "I think it started when I was 13 years old. I try to stay onside. When I came to City, I have been offside 18 times, 18 times in three and half years is okay.
"It’s something in my game: I hate to be offside. If you’re offside with VAR you have no chance. I think VAR has helped me even more because you get the decision – it’s as simple as that.
"If you’re barely offside and there is an offside situation, it’s likely that I won't be offside. It’s something I’ve been working on since I was 13 at Bryne and I’m still playing in the same kind of way… just now I’m quicker, better and faster."
Haaland is now up to 98 Premier League and Alan Shearer's competition record of 260 is in his sights. That is one of the few records the 25-year-old is aware of but he insists he isn't lining it up just yet.
"I know this record, I don't really know any records, but this one I know. That's his Premier League record," he said.
"But again, that's not something I can... I can't think about records I can break. That's the last thing I think of. I try to help the team win football games. That's my job and that's my main focus. I know it's boring, I know you want me to say the completely opposite, but it's not how it is."
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