Erling Haaland, playing under Matthias Sammer and more: Interview with former Borussia Dortmund defender André Bergdølmo
BM: Let me ask you about a great talent at Borussia Dortmund, Erling Haaland. You are a family friend of the Haalands. What do you make of Erling Haaland and how he has developed? I can’t remember a player like that for really some years, amazing right?
AB: Yes, that’s true. And, and he’s from Norway, you know a small country of 5 million people. Ole Gunnar Solskjær trained him at Molde, Erling at first wasn’t even recognized in Norway, because he wasn’t that strong at say around 13, but then he grew very quickly and Molde did a very good thing. They didn’t over train him. They made sure his body adapted to football properly. The two clubs Molde and Bryne did an amazing job not pushing Erling too hard. When you are that talented and on the way up, if the coaches keep on pushing with training and with more games, then you get injured, but he has never been injured so far because of the way he was developed. He has taken it step by step systematically and is now what you see.
BM: Molde is a top tier club and have won 4 titles the latest in 2019, they are doing very well, what happened that Erling at just 18 moved to RB Salzburg?
AB: I always say to Norwegian young players when you are too good for your team in Norway, then it’s time to move, because the players you train with become like mentors so you need to be around great players to learn, out of your comfort zone. Haaland was too good for Molde and then they did the right thing, sell him to a better club, but his luck was it was not Real Madrid or Manchester United but RB Salzburg, that was the correct step. I think his father is very good at putting him in at the right level to improve his skills. If he went to an even bigger club, like Real, then he wouldn’t have had so much time to develop.
BM: And then after 1 season in Salzburg, Erling was on the move again and this time in January 2019 it was to the Bundesliga.
AB: At the time there were reported to be offers from Manchester United and other Premier League teams and also from Borussia Dortmund for Erling. Many journalists, who knew I am a family friend of the Haaland family, called me and said what do you think Erling should do now? I said one word – Dortmund. Because they have a history of developing young players well, to have faith in them, to use them more than maybe Real Madrid and Manchester United. So it was a very good step and he has really shown how good that was for him.