“My team was made up from youngsters born in 1999 and Erling was born in 2000, so he started playing a year up which meant he was actually lacking in height compared to the boys who were a year older, and he was also a bit skinny. You could see he was going to be something special, however, even at that stage.

“He always smiled a lot, was happy, scored a lot of goals and trained a lot – the same as he’s been for most of his life, in fact.

“As a coach, you see things in four dimensions – the technical part, the tactical side, the mentality side, and the physicality and quite early on, it was obvious Erling was strong in all those departments.

“He had to be smart, because his team-mates were very good, and he had good competition and had to be intelligent with his movement.

“He has the perfect mentality to be a footballer because he is never afraid and he had real grit about him from an early age – the only thing he was lacking was the physical element as that point, but I always believed that when he was 15, 16 or 17, his talent could explode because he would be fast and strong.

“When he was 11, he had a lot of promise, but predicting he would be the top scorer in the Champions League – as he is this season – that was impossible.

“Alfie didn’t attend our training – he would attend matches like any other parent, but he had many other things to do when Erling trained, and I think he wanted to let him grow on his own. As I say, we had many good players at that time, and it helped Erling develop.

"Alfie could relax because it was a great environment and Erling was safe and happy – there was a great atmosphere at the club and all the players progressed really well."

“As Erling got older, so Alfie became more involved, particularly when he left Bryne to join Molde and then on to Salzburg. That’s when he could advise him on how to behave and what was best to do, all of which was very important for Erling.

“We had a good chemistry, and we were close for many years, but I had good relationships with all the young players at Bryne which was important because it wasn’t just the football part that mattered; it was about being good people as well.

"Erling wasn’t treated any differently and we only had three rules at our club – be on time, always do your best and behave."

“It sounds quite simple, but it was quite effective. Whether you were the best player or the 40th best player, it didn’t matter because we as coaches wanted those good qualities in all the boys in our team.

“My job with Erling finished at a point when he had a lot of good people around him and he was doing just fine – I didn’t call him to offer any advice from there on because he was doing just great on his own.

“I coached the Bryne first team for 2015/16 for a short time and Erling was in the first team as a 15 year-old. After that, I coached players at grassroots level again who had played alongside Erling for another two years. Coach Gaute Larsen gave Erling his Bryne debut, and was then sacked after the same match, I took over for a short time and gave Erling his senior home debut aged 15.”

Ironically, despite scoring freely at all levels he had played, Erling went played 16 times for then-second tier Bryne and failed to find the net once.

Berntsen says that, though Haaland would never actually score for his hometown club, he had been regularly find the net elsewhere that season.

“Erling was playing for the U15 and U16 for the national team and scoring a lot of goals and also for the Bryne B team in the third tier in Norway, but when he came into the first team, Bryne were in what would be the Championship in England and he was up against experienced, physically strong men aged and he was just 15,” he said.

“It was a great experience for him to understand his best movements and prepare his body physically for what was coming. It was a good education for him.

“At the end of that season, he signed for Molde. I think Erling, Alfie and the team around them have made very good choices. He was already too good to play at League One level for Bryne and there were many clubs interested, but Molde had a good set-up and he stayed there for 18 months before he went to Salzburg, which again was a very wise move. Then it was off to Dortmund, and each move he made was up another level.”

Berntsen wants all the players he coached to do well, but in life as much as football.

He and his fellow coaches tried to instil values that the boys would take through their lives.

“I’m very happy that Erling is doing so well, but when people ask me if I am proud that I was involved in his early football education – and for all the players I coached - for me it’s always a question of ‘do they behave?’

“From the group Erling played alongside at Bryne, some became carpenters, some mechanics, some have gone overseas to study at a high standard, and some are still playing football at a good level – so we are more proud that they learned to look after themselves, but of course Erling is doing so well and that we are glad that we were important for him in some of his formative years.

“He plays on instinct, but people forget that you are not born to score goals – instinct is based on earlier experiences from earlier years and then your body develops, but you have to be in a good environment too, and Bryne was that for Erling.

“I’ve spoken to more than 250 journalists over the years, and they always ask: ‘have you seen what Erling has done?’ and so I say, ‘Yes, I have seen!’ – some of the TV companies run videos of him when he was a teenager or just starting out and comparing that with what he has being doing lately, and in many ways the actions are quite the same. It’s not common to keep scoring each time you move up a level, but the goals he is scoring are quite similar to the ones he scored at junior level – many are exactly the same as when he was 13!

“99.9% of players who move to the next level can’t do what Erling has done – but he trains a lot, he scores a lot, and he smiles a lot – so he is the same person as he always has been; he is just doing it at much higher level. It is incredible.

“When he was given the chance at Molde, he scored a lot of goals and when he got his chance at Salzburg, he scored a lot of goals in the league and the Champions League – and then did the same at Dortmund – and not just against the average sides, he scored against the best teams, regularly. So when he moved to City, it was a case of ‘what can he do there in a team that creates a lot of chances?’ – and of course he is scoring many, many goals, so we are not shocked at all that he has scored a lot of goals already because he is doing what he has always done - but reaching 50 was not expected!.

“The only thing that would stop Erling is injury, or if he isn’t enjoying life and he is clearly enjoying life at City and looks very settled in Manchester. He will continue to score a lot of goals.

“Like anybody who has the headlines he is having, he will have to deal with the fame because he can’t live a normal life anymore in that respect – as someone who has known him for many years, I am very satisfied that he is prepared for the football side of things, but the fame will take some adjustment because it does have restrictions. If he can handle that, and I think he will, he is unstoppable.

““I haven’t spoken to Erling for several years - I don’t have to - because Erling and the group of 40 players are always with me in my heart.

“What would I say to him now? Not a thing – I want the best for him and all the players who played football alongside him at Bryne and I know what a big star he has become. For me, Erling was a funny, loveable guy who was really nice to have in our group and was really well liked by everyone.

“Next time I see him I will give him a hug. I really want Erling to succeed – many of his close friends are the guys he grew up with. Most people in Norway support an English football team and we have a lot of Liverpool and Manchester United fans because of their past successes, but Norwegians love it when a local lad is doing OK. I’ve been a Liverpool fan since 1973 because of Kevin Keegan.

“But we all follow Erling because blood is thicker than water.

“I will be proud if he continues to follow the Bryne youth team rules of being on time, doing your best and behaving. If he follows those three rules, then I will be even prouder of Erling.”

Special thanks to Ole Fuglestad and Bjørn Hagerup Røken of Bryne FK. Dortmund picture of Alfie and Erling Haaland taken by Alexandre Simoes of Borussia Dortmund.