Socceroos striker compared to Erling Haaland after Norwich City hot streak
Cancel the call. We found it. Mohamed Toure is the talismanic striker Socceroos fans hope will emerge within a decade.
Many before him have tried to usurp the throne vacated by Tim Cahill and before him Mark Viduka, but none have looked more ready to do so than Toure, who continued his hot streak on Wednesday morning (AEST) by scoring his ninth goal in 10 games since joining English Championship side Norwich City and his fourth in less than a week.
Considering he is only 22 years old, may his reign be a long one.
He is now averaging a goal for every 15 touches for the club, drawing direct comparisons with none other than Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland, who holds the record for most goals in a Premier League season.
There is always a sense of caution about bringing a young Australian player into action too early. Toure is still young but not inexperienced: he burst onto the domestic scene with Adelaide United aged just 15, becoming the third-youngest A-League debutant and immediately attracting attention with his pace, power and skill.
He is now entering his fifth season of European football and looks much better thanks to his decision to weather difficult spells in France and Denmark rather than retreat to the comforts of home as some other players have done.
Of course, the only reason to be cautious with Toure is whether his body can hold up between now and Australia’s World Cup opener against Türkiye on June 13. If appropriate, it starts; It’s that simple. And if he is still in his current form, coach Tony Popovic’s attack will be something for opponents to truly fear, especially if he repeats his partnership with childhood friend Nestory Irankunda.
Toure represents a new breakthrough for the Socceroos: for the first time, they will head to the World Cup with a young, hungry and exciting No.9, ready to flex his muscles on the game’s biggest stage.
He is also resilient: demonstrated not just by his performance in Norwich’s 2-1 win over Derby County, which earned him rave reviews from manager Phillippe Clement, but also by his leadership.
It would be fair enough if Toure had taken some time to find his bearings, having been dropped by a groin injury that kept him out of the Socceroos’ final farewell friendly in Australia, which also disrupted his sensational start at Norwich after his January transfer.
Instead, he continued where he left off.
After three appearances off the bench, including two assists against Millwall, Toure scored a hat-trick against Bristol City at the weekend in his first start since returning to full fitness. It was his second hat-trick for the club. No player in Norwich history has twice scored three goals in their first 10 games.
His stats might have looked even better had goalkeeper Jacob Widell taken away a 10th-minute penalty against Derby, which Zetterström saved.
But rather than let the moment come to him, Toure rallied to level the scores just after the hour mark with a fierce shot just wide of the crossbar – and Clement said post-match that it was a sign of a strong mentality and reminded the manager of a baby-faced Haaland.
“I saw the strikers also tremble and begin to doubt [themselves]. “This has not been the case in Mo until now,” he said.
“There will be times in a lot of games where you don’t score, that’s part of being a striker.
“I saw a young Haaland play for Salzburg years ago and was very impressed with how he prepared his game. In the warm-up they were passing crosses and he was missing opportunities, then he got really angry.”
“When he scored, it was like he had won the Champions League; he was so happy. But you felt the fire in the kid. So I said to my team, I think he was 17 or 18 or so: ‘This guy is going to have a really big future.’
“It’s also a quality. It’s not just technical and physical qualities, you also have to have mental qualities to be a good player and Mo is showing really good things there.”
Toure’s scoring record with the Socceroos isn’t too bad either. He has two goals in five games but would have had more than two had it not been for the groin accident.
Popovic will be crossing his fingers and toes to avoid injury for the rest of the season – and so should anyone who wants to see Australia do well at the World Cup.
