When Erling Haaland decides to do something, the whole world talks about it. This time, the change is one of those that makes an impact, because it concerns the long blond hair that had accompanied the Norwegian striker for years, becoming an integral part of his public image. Well, now that hairstyle is gone, replaced by a very short, almost military cut. But the interesting part is not so much the buzz cut that has transformed the face of the Norwegian star as the fact that the moment he changed his style went around the world, quite literally, within a few hours.
The transformation was documented by Haaland himself on his YouTube channel, in a video in which the Norwegian forward filmed the transition from his iconic hair to the new look. The idea, he explained, had already come to him after the World Cup, but he had never found the time to do it. The beginning of a new season, however, seemed like the perfect moment to start again in a different way, even when it came to his appearance. “It’s time to let go of this beautiful hair,” he said before sitting down in the barber’s chair, admitting that he was “a little nervous”. For anyone who wants to see it, here is the full vlog:
Because Haaland’s hair, by then, was no longer just hair. It had become a trademark. The blond ponytail and the braids, the way he let them fall over his shoulders: all of it helped build that Viking image that football had adopted as one of its most recognisable icons. The Norwegian knows this well. And precisely for that reason, in the video, he decided to turn the haircut into a show. Before doing it, though, there was one last step: explaining it to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The former Swedish striker, another famous owner of a long mane, had already given Haaland some very precise advice: never cut your hair, because “the power is in the hair”.
The funniest part comes afterwards, when the new Haaland starts calling some of the people who know him best. The first memorable reaction is Jack Grealish’s. His Manchester City team-mate looks at him and bursts out laughing: “You look ten years old.” Then he keeps staring, amused, almost unable to recognise in that childish face the same striker who has terrorised Premier League defences over the last few years. Then comes Pep Guardiola. Haaland calls his former manager while the Catalan is comfortably sitting on the sofa, watching a game. Guardiola is surprised, but immediately finds a way to turn the situation into a joke: “You’re lucky to have hair. I wish I had it.” Then he reassures the Norwegian: if the new look does not convince him, the hair will grow back. It is perhaps not the kind of reassurance Haaland was looking for, but it will have to do.
But the most eagerly awaited call is inevitably the one to Ibrahimovic. And this is where the video becomes a small comedy. Zlatan looks at Haaland and seems almost unable to believe what he is seeing. “What have you done? Did you lose a bet?” Then comes the verdict: “Block me and delete my number.” The joke continues, with Ibrahimovic asking him whether, now that his hair is short, he has become faster. Haaland replies in his usual dry tone: “I hope so.” Noel Gallagher, a symbolic figure in the Manchester City world, is involved in the game too. The Oasis singer laughs when he sees the new look and tells Haaland that he now looks 17. “Change is good” is the rock star’s verdict. His girlfriend, Isabel Haugseng Johansen, watches the transformation directly and reacts with a mixture of surprise and approval, eventually describing him as “cute” and “tough”.
On social media, then, after his City debut against Bournemouth, there was everything. Some immediately approved of the new look, some argued that Haaland could get away with any hairstyle, while others were literally shocked. A few fans asked whether it was really him, while others joked about the possibility that those images had been generated by artificial intelligence. “Tell me it’s just AI” was one of the more significant comments to appear online. And then there was the funniest theory of all: the power in the hair. Ibrahimovic’s phrase immediately became a prophecy to be tested on the pitch. For years, Haaland had built his image around that Viking-like mane. Now that he had got rid of it, would the same monster in front of goal still be there?
The answer, at least in the first game, was not particularly reassuring for the superstitious. Haaland did not score in the Citizens’ hard-fought 2-1 victory over Bournemouth. A perfect detail for feeding the legend: Zlatan had said that the power was in the hair and, in the first match without the famous mane, the Norwegian was left without a goal. But the beauty of this story, beyond what for now are simply coincidences, lies in the movement that gathered around something as ordinary as a haircut. Haaland took a completely normal gesture and turned it into a media event. He did not simply change his hairstyle: he played with his own image, and the game brought in 2.5 million views on YouTube alone. It is difficult to add much to that. Needless to say, the Instagram posts with which Erling documented the haircut had an enormous echo too: as of the morning of August 24, they had collected 18 million likes between them. It is easy to imagine those numbers continuing to grow over the next few hours, and then a few more after that.