Why Erling Haaland will never wear gloves on the football pitch

Erling Haaland put his "old school" approach to tackling and running down to his father who would "hit him" if he wore gloves.

The Norway striker has excelled for Manchester City since making the switch to the Premier League from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, scoring 100 Premier League goals in just 111 matches.

Obviously his goalscoring is his main asset but an underrated part of his game is the physicality he brings to the game and his indefatigable ability to keep running.

Those are both things Haaland refers to as "old school," while he revealed the reason he will never wear gloves, no matter how cold it is.

He told the Rest is Football: "I like the old school kind of, you know, the charming thing of running, tackling, all these kind of things.

"It's a nice thing and also, you never see me playing with gloves. It's because my father would hit me if I did.

"So I'm a bit old school as well. So that's why I like it as well."

Haaland's father Alfie has had a major influence on the career of his son, from playing for Manchester City himself, to always offering advice.

But if Alfie, who played 47 times for City between 2000 and 2003, had got his way, then we may be seeing Erling Haaland lining up at Royal Birkdale this summer, instead of the Metlife Stadium.

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"You know, it's actually funny because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer," Haaland said.

"That was his biggest dream, so when I was 10, he forced me to start golf.

"So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13."

Thankfully for Norwegians and Manchester City fans, Haaland did not become a professional golfer and instead one of the most prolific strikers football has seen.