Haaland reveals secret weapon behind return to form

ERLING HAALAND’S dream of playing for one of the biggest clubs in Spain is a distant memory after signing a 9½-year deal with Manchester City.

But the Norwegian forward will not lose any sleep over it.

In fact, he is not losing any sleep over anything . . . after taking extra steps to ensure he gets the right amount of kip.

When he arrived in Manchester back in summer 2022, the feeling always was that Haaland would just be passing through.

Despite being a boyhood City fan, he owns a house in Marbella so surely he would want to go and play for Real Madrid or Barcelona one day.

Yet after signing his mammoth £500,000-per-week deal, the 24-year-old admits that is no longer something he is thinking about.

When asked if he was OK with putting that dream on the back-burner, Haaland said: “Yeah, I just signed a 9½-year deal, so what do you want me to say?

“Of course I’m happy with that, I’m good with that and, yeah, as I said, I’m super happy with my choice.

“I’m looking forward to spending many years in Manchester — and  that’s really it.”

Haaland’s numbers may not be quite as incredible as they have been in the previous two seasons but he has still scored 22 times for City already this season.

More importantly, he has been free of the injury problems which were such a feature of his early career and he has appeared in every Premier League and Champions League game so far this season.

One of the things he has done is to monitor the amount of time he spends in bed . . . just to make sure he carries on giving opposition defenders plenty of sleepless nights.

He revealed: “I’ve probably changed a few things. I started measuring my sleep just to make sure I slept really well, and it was true, I slept really good.

“So that’s a thing I did differently this season,

“Taking good care of my body, first of all, I try to do everything I can to be available for the club, for the team.

“It’s been going really well this season in terms of that. It’s not easy because of many games but, yeah, it’s about preparing in the right way.

“It’s about getting the right and enough amount of sleep, eating the right things and doing the right choices in the end.”

The £51.4million forward, signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, admits it is getting harder for him as defenders are working out how to deal with his threat.

But in a way he takes it as a compliment that opponents are paying him so much attention.

He admitted: “It’s getting more and more difficult but that’s a positive thing.

“When people really care about you, I think that’s the best thing that can happen to you as a footballer because that means you’ve done something right.

“And then in the end, there’s no excuses or anything, you have to try and find a way to win games with the team, and for me, obviously, as the striker.

“I’m the one to score the goals so it’s about finding ways to get your chances and everything — and to do your best to score.”

City need points from their final two first-phase games to make sure they do not miss out on even a play-off match to get into the last 16 of this season’s Champions League.

They face a tricky task away against old rivals Paris Saint-Germain tonight before a home game with Club Brugge a week today.

But at least Pep Guardiola and his men look to have put the slump which hit them during the final two months of 2024 firmly behind them.

They have plundered 22 goals in their last five games — winning four — including six at Ipswich on Sunday.

And Haaland added: “There’s a really positive energy in the club. It’s been a hard period, everyone knows that, but I feel the energy.

“We’re training really good and I think we’re over it now and, of course, we look ahead to PSG and then many other games.”

These two teams met in a semi- final 3½ years ago but are now scrambling to stay in the competition.

But Haaland said: “Last time I played them was a long time ago.

“They’re doing really well in the league but are doing the same as City in Europe.

“Paris will always be a top team with a fantastic manager. It will be a really difficult game.

“We have to do our best because we need to win games.

“That’s what it is about for us — and it’s the same for Paris.”