Erling Haaland shows true Arsenal colours as Man City star namedrops two ex-players

Manchester City star Erling Haaland has named two former Arsenal stars as big influences on his game

Manchester City star Erling Haaland has namedropped two former Arsenal stars as players he watched a lot of growing up who have impacted his career in front of goal. The Norwegian international is considered one of the best strikers in world football, but revealed Gunners' duo Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie helped shape his game.

The 'once in a generational talent' has scored an incredible 308 goals in 384 domestic appearances, with another 55 goals in just 48 international appearances. He may be a fierce rival of Arsenal in terms of their quest for both domestic and European silverware, but the 25-year-old has shown his true colours.

"I watched Zlatan a lot when I was young," Haaland told TNT Sports. "He was Swedish and nice to watch. Of course, [Sergio] Aguero I watched a lot from watching lots of City.

"Then there was also Robin [van Persie] in the Premier League. He was also left-footed, with crazy finishes. I remember one season he had with Arsenal when he scored around 38 goals. That was an incredible season, but there were many strikers.

"Even Jamie Vardy... the runs he did were amazing to see. I've been watching many strikers. "It's a big part of my game to do runs in behind and to stretch the defenders to make more space for Phil Foden in between. This is a big part of my game.

"By always doing the runs, I don't need to get the ball. I normally don't get the ball, but against Galatasaray I got it, and it's a goal, which is good."

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When asked about his own personal development, the Man City star admitted a lot of it has been instinct, but namedropped Arsenal legend Henry as someone he's tried to take things from.

Haaland said: "There were a lot of things I found out I was good at, first of all. "The way of scoring goals can sometimes be, don't get me wrong, it can be 'easy.'

"Just put the ball in behind, run and score. When you look at the goal I scored against Galatasaray, it's the perfect example of this. But a lot of it comes down to myself.

"I've watched others, and watched goals from the likes of Thierry Henry. You take small things from some of the goals he scored, as well as a lot of different strikers.

"But you then kind of go your own way, which I think is a good thing. If you're young and if you want to become better... I've always wanted to become better... but I also just wanted to enjoy playing football when I was young.

"I didn't think, 'oh, I need to train hard, learn to do this or that'. I played football because it was a nice thing to do, and when you do nice things, you want to do it more.

"Then, you become good at it as well. I was lucky to have a good talent, good people around me, because that's also important and also to have the mentality to train a lot as well."

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