ERLING HAALAND has gone full-on Rocky in preparation for the new Premier League season.
The Manchester City hitman has had the entire summer off due to Norway’s failure to qualify for Euro 2024 in Germany.
Erling Haaland enjoyed a well-earned summer holiday Credit: Instagram / @erling.haaland
But the striker was forced by his dad to chop wood and do difficult hikes to keep himself fit Credit: MANCHESTER CITY
Haaland’s old man – Alf-Inge – put him through the gruelling workouts Credit: GETTY
Haaland has balanced his partying and gruelling workouts with Credit: MANCHESTER CITY
Haaland, 23, enjoyed a well-deserved break after helping fire City to their record fourth-straight domestic title.
But playtime is over for the striker, who is hard at work preparing for the new season.
And he’s been put through some old-school exercises by his dad, former City and Leeds United defender Alf-Inge.
City’s star striker has been getting his strength up by hiking through the woods and CHOPPING WOOD – just as Sylvester Stallone did in the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Rocky IV’.
Haaland revealed his throwback training methods in a video on his and City’s X and Instagram pages.
In the clip, his camera said: “Cutting woods in the mountains is the most Erling Haaland thing I’ve heard.”
The former Borussia Dortmund striker then said: “My father forced me, I didn’t have a choice.”
Footie fans were quick to comment on the clip, with one saying: “Haaland is a different breed.
Another said: “Real dads make their sons do yard work.”
And another said: “His father is a true Viking.”
One remarked: “Normal Viking behaviour. Nothing new.”
Another chimed in: “I expected nothing less.”
Haaland has balanced the brutal nature of his off-season strength and conditioning work with the peace and tranquillity of meditation, which he’s been doing by rivers.
City will be hoping his unorthodox training methods will have him firing on all cylinders come the start of the new season.
The Norwegian bagged 38 goals in 45 appearances last season, in which he also bagged six assists.
That haul paled in comparison to the glut of goals he scored in his debut season at the Etihad Stadium, in which he found the back of the net 52 times and provided nine assists.