Haaland named FWA Footballer of the Year

The Man City forward received 82 percent of the votes and was presented by the trophy, first won by Ballon d'Or winner Sir Stanley Matthews in 1948, by FWA Chair John Cross.
 

"No, I didn't expect to be that good. I expected to be good, of course, to come in the team, to come in a team that's been scoring many goals (and) winning the Premier League a lot of times, two years in a row and now three. I expected to do good things but to do this I didn't quite expect. And yeah, it's been a fantastic season so far, and yeah, I'm happy. Said Haaland

"Of course, everyone knows...everyone knew it even a couple of months ago that it was possible and everyone knows now that it is possible and I will do everything that I can to make it possible. That would be a big dream. And it's two finals left, so, we'll see in the end.

"No you don't feel like this but you have the confidence a bit when, if we are struggling a bit, I look around myself and I see all the good players, all my team mates, and then you just get the confidence directly back. And yeah, I mean, it's two finals left and we still have to stay focussed. Even though we won the Premier League we still have to stay focused to achieve what we can achieve in the next two finals."

The Norwegian has scored 36 goals in 35 Premier League appearances in his debut season for the Sky Blues, propelling City to a third straight league title and breaking the single season goalscoring record of 34 once shared by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer in an era when the Premier League had two more teams and thus four more matches in a season.

The 22-year-old's goal tally rises to 52 this season across all competitions, 13 shy of Dixie Dean's record for goals scored in single season in English professional football which the Everton legend set in the 1927/1928.