Erling Haaland, who earns £865,000-a-week at Man City, reveals how his dad 'forced him to chop wood' over the summer to help him improve his strength ahead of the new season

Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland, has revealed the decidedly back-to-basics ways he's been training to get his strength up during the summer break.

Haaland is paid a reported £865,000-a-week at City, but it appears the 23-year-old striker has opted for a zero-cost, low-tech training regime ahead of the new season, back in his native Norway.

In scenes more reminiscent of a Rocky movie training montage, Haaland has shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) where he reveals that chopping wood, hikes in the mountains, and meditation by the water are at the heart of his training programme.

'Cutting woods in the mountains is the most Erling Haaland thing I've heard,' the cameraman filming him says. 

'My father forced me, I didn't have a choice,' Haaland laughs in response, in reference to his dad, the former Manchester City, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest player, Alf-Ing 'Alfie' Haaland. 

He has previously been photographed felling trees in a forest pre-season back in 2021 – something that perhaps sparked a love for tree surgery. 

The Norwegian's rustic regime may see him channel his inner viking with a more unconventional methodology, but who can blame him?

Since joining City for £52.1million from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, Haaland has broken a plethora of team and individual records.

This includes the club's 2022-23 historic treble, which comprised the Premier League title, FA Cup and the club's first Champions League, and then their 2023-24 league title-League Cup double.

As an individual, on his debut season he won the Golden Boot, breaking the record for Premier League goals scored in a season, with an incredible 36. 

As a result, he was named UEFA's Player of the Year, and the runner-up in the prestigious Ballon d'Or awards.