The football obsession has been there for as long as Haaland remembers. It is in his blood. Born in England, in Leeds – “that’s where my sense of humour comes from,” he says – his father, Alf-Inge, played as a midfielder for Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Leeds United before returning to Norway when Erling was four.

“I remember playing football with my big brother (Astor) and even then I wanted to be a footballer,” Haaland recalls. He also has an older sister, Gabrielle, and their mother, Gry Marita Braut, was a Norwegian heptathlon champion. His parents’ sporting prowess helps explain his athleticism.

“I would carry a ball around me. I collected football cards, I played Fifa, I watched all the games I could, watched the goals again. I would go to school with my sticker album and trade the cards with my friends and get the players to complete the teams.

“Every weekend the first thing me and my friends did was go down to this football hall that we had in my hometown and play for free. I always knew they would be there. We would be there all day, chilling, hanging around, playing football. All day. It brings back some good memories just thinking about it. We would organise our own practice sessions. I was maybe 10 years old. I would jump on my bike and ride the five minutes down to the hall.”

Haaland smiles at the memory. He may, already, have come a long way but he is still, as he once said in a TV interview, “just a guy from Bryne”, with its population of only 12,000 near the North Sea and its simple farming economy.

“It’s true I said that,” Haaland explains. “It’s also what I think when I play football. I am still just the same guy who used to play in my hometown with my friends. When you watch me when I was younger I am still doing some of the same things now. It’s something I think about a lot – I am just a normal guy from Byrne.”

Except he is far from normal.

During this interview, conducted for Icon magazine, Haaland often mentions the drive to push himself, to improve, to make the extra gains, on and off the pitch, which are needed to be the best. There is even a phrase he repeats. He does not want to be in a “comfort zone”. Ever.

“I have been taking a couple of steps over the past few years and I think they have been good steps for me, personally, to get out of my comfort zone and to develop even more,” Haaland says.

“I want to challenge myself in everything that I do. It’s something I think about. It’s also for everyone to always do this. People can sometimes be too comfortable staying in their ‘zone’ so I think it’s important to get out of that.”