Erling Haaland is pleased to be less recognisable in the street

“People don’t notice me as much in the street,” Erling Haaland says, pleased to have cut his long hair. The Norwegian says the change has given him some anonymity again, although he was surprised by the reaction to his new hairstyle.

At the end of August, he caught everyone off guard by getting rid of the long blond hair that had become his trademark. Haaland did not expect such an ordinary gesture to prompt so much discussion. “I expected it to make a bit of a buzz, not for the whole world to look at me with my new haircut; it was quite funny,” he told Sky Sports.

The transformation also drew some amused responses. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had notably asked him: “What have you done? What is that? Did you lose a bet or something?”

Although his hairstyle is now less distinctive, Haaland has not lost his brilliance on the football pitch. In the street, however, he says he appreciates being a little less conspicuous.