Scoring a hat trick in 20 minutes may be “normal” for strikers around the world. However, when it is done by a player who makes his debut at a new club, that is what not many players can do. Erling Braut Haaland was the player who had the opportunity to do so, and it became a trending topic in Germany and in Austria – a competition he had previously fought for. In fact, it could be among Manchester United fans, this is a very disappointing thing. Because, the Norwegian attacker was once rumoured to be recruited by Manchester United
However, the player actually chose to join Borussia Dortmund. A choice that can be said to be right. Because at the age of 20 years, it’s not too risky to directly play with a club name as big as Man. United Why? Demands at clubs like Manchester United are definitely different from those at Borussia Dortmund. Moreover, Dortmund is one of the clubs in Europe that is very friendly to young players. Evidently, Robert Lewandowski, Shinji Kagawa, Nuri Sahin, and Mario Goetze had been raised by Dortmund.
Dortmund like Ajax in the Dutch Ere divisie, also like Southampton in the English Premier League. They are clubs that really believe in the quality of young players, and they are not eyeing short-term targets. Even if they can win the championship, it’s because they are looking for points of opportunity, not like the big (named) clubs who are ambitious to win many titles in a season. Whereas clubs like Dortmund prioritize the growth and development of games – and players. Champion is a bonus from that hard work.
Actually in Ajax, too. Only, because Ajax is a big team in the Dutch league, then they are used to targeting champions, especially to compete with PSV Eindhoveen and others in domestic competitions. But if they talk about European performances, they will consider the competition as a stage for “having fun”, not with pressure.
Evidently, when they began to believe in themselves and get pressure -to the final, they actually failed. The same goes for Dortmund in the Jurgen Klopp era who step by step tried to build a foundation for champions. They finally ended up like “onion kids” – even though they were champions in the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal – when they had to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
They need more experience and a spirit of history to be able to achieve maximum results at the highest level and that is what most are in big clubs. As for Dortmund, after Klopp’s departure to Liverpool, the club had to rebuild despite its legacy. That is what makes this club have different demands on its players, especially young players, and it is very good for them. Because, with their success in bringing Dortmund to high achievement, their individual work will also increase and attract the interest of many big clubs in the future.
This will not happen for young players who directly play for big teams. Today, we can indeed see the actions of Marcus Rashford and Tammy Abraham as young players who are the foundation of their respective clubs. However, they are still difficult to match the performance of players who are accustomed to being trained from the bottom – actually Tammy was originally in the Championship Division before rising to the Premier League caste. So, if Erling Haaland wants to follow in the footsteps of attackers who are still consistent until the age of maturity, the choice is right to be in Signal Iduna Park.
The second reason is competition. At a higher level with big name clubs, competition between players will be even tougher. It is impossible for a player who likes to play soccer instead to have to sit a lot on the bench. That would be a wedge to Haaland’s career if he joined Manchester United. Because, the level of confidence of managers / coaches in big clubs towards young players is not as big as coaches in upper middle class clubs like Dortmund, Ajax, RB Leipzig, Atletico Madrid, and others.
This means that if Erling Haaland joins the top team, he will not only find more fierce competition, but also a matter of a longer process compared to playing with a middle class club. In addition there is a third reason that makes Haaland considered more appropriate to join Lucien Favre’s team than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Namely the career span will be longer. Especially when he hasn’t really been at a club like Man. United, Man. City, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Juventus, especially Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Regardless of the current condition of the clubs, with their big names, players who are deemed to have failed to adapt there will start losing spurs to prestige. Call it a player like Carlos Vela who was once thought to be a future Arsenal player after generations of Thierry Henry. However, in reality, the player failed to shine with Arsenal and is considered better when defending Real Sociedad and other clubs. In fact, now the Mexican player has a career in Major League Soccer with Los Angeles FC.
It was there, that colleague Giovanni Dos Santos became the fertile striker he was supposed to be. Interestingly, what Carlos Vela experienced was also felt by Giovanni who was once considered the pearl sought by Barcelona. However, his career with the big club from Catalan was not long. He also once defended Tottenham Hotspur, until finally now at Club America which is one of the big clubs in his homeland, Mexico.
Seeing these examples, of course Haaland needs to think more calmly for his future. Moreover, he is only 19 years old, so surely his career must be longer than Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Cristiano Ronaldo. One player who is considered phenomenal in his career span could be just Lionel Messi with Barcelona. However, not many players can grow and grow with top clubs like Messi. Thus, Haaland is expected to be more realistic about his career if he wants to not quickly “run out”.
With those three points, Haaland is expected to develop with Dortmund and make the competition map of the top clubs in the German Bundesliga even more exciting, aka not only dominated by Bayern Munich. Moreover, now the ruler of the top standings is RB Leipzig, not Munich.
However, over time, Dortmund must have the courage to master domestic competition. So that they can get back to talking a lot on the European stage and make young players no longer think of upgrading individual achievements by moving to big clubs – especially to Munchen, but still survive in Dortmund.
