Haaland wins Bundesliga Player of the Month for January despite playing just 59 minutes

Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland has been named Bundesliga player of the month for January despite playing just 59 minutes.

The 19-year-old Norwegian striker is enjoying an incredible start to life in Germany having joined Borussia Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg in the winter transfer window.

Haaland’s incredible Dortmund start: Five key things to know…

• Haaland joined Borussia Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg after they activated his buyout clause.
• A number of clubs, including Juventus and Man Utd, were heavily linked but he opted to continue developing in Germany.
• Haaland registered a 20-minute hat-trick on debut at FC Augsburg before scoring twice against FC Köln.
• His five goals across 59 league minutes was enough to be named Bundesliga player of the month for January.
• So far Haaland has registered nine goals across six appearances for BVB in all competitions, averaging one every 38.9 minutes.

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A host of clubs, notably Juventus and Manchester United were heavily linked with Europe’s latest teenage sensation, but he opted for Dortmund who met his £17.1m buyout clause.

Haaland made his league debut on January 18 at FC Augsburg, coming off the bench to register a 20-minute hat-trick. The insatiable marksman would go on to net a brace at home against 1. FC Köln the following week.

In total, the rising stalet registered five goals across 59 minutes of league football, one strike every 11.8 minutes, that was enough to see him become the first Dortmund player this season to win the monthly award.

Haaland follows Robert Lewandowski, Amine Harit, Serge Gnabry and Timo Werner as the 2019/20 winners so far. He also collected the Rookie of the Month award for January 2020 with Florian Neuhaus of Borussia Mönchengladbach winning Goal of the Month.

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“As you say, it’s been a very good start and I’m proud of this, but that’s not my full focus,” Haaland said of the award.

“My full focus is to achieve something with the team. But yeah, it’s a nice award.”

?‍♂️ DER ZAUBER-(L)E(H)RLING! pic.twitter.com/q4LR0pjbxh

— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) February 14, 2020

‘Nothing compared to others… I look at Kylian Mbappe’

Despite his youth and relative experience, Dortmund will be turning to Haaland when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16 of the Champions League.

In the race for this season’s Golden Boot, which Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated in recent years, only Bayern Munich rival Robert Lewandowski (10) has more goals than Haaland (eight), who is three ahead of PSG’s very own lethal goalscorer Kylian Mbappe.

Comparisons between the pair, who are separated by two years, have naturally been made but Haaland is being realistic and keeping his feet grounded.

“I always said to myself that my dream is to become one of the best players in the world, but also to become a professional football player. I said to myself my whole life, and I knew when I was young that I was good, but you know, it’s also a long way to go,” he added.

“But when I got my first professional contract in Bryne, I was thinking ‘this is a good thing’. But on the other side, it’s nothing compared to others. Also, when I was in Salzburg, I started scoring goals there, but if I’m realistic, I look at Kylian Mbappe, he’s scoring, he’s banging in goals in Ligue 1, so you know, you can always reach a higher level in football.”