THE RISE OF THE VIKINGS

Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard are the latest in a long line of Norwegians to impress in the Premier League

- Sean Cole

Two of the Premier League’s finest talents are Norwegian. Last season, the relentless Erling Haaland scored a record 36 goals to fire Manchester City to the title ahead of Arsenal, whose surprise challenge was led by Martin Odegaard, the captain and heartbeat of an emerging force.

Both are global superstars with the media profile to match their outstanding ability. While typically humble and hard-working – attributes often possessed by Scandinavian footballers – few, if any, of their fellow countrymen have achieved such an exalted status on or off the pitch.

Norway’s early Premier League pioneers delivered plenty of industry, professionalism and success, yet it was never accompanied by the same intoxicating sense of glamour. Somehow, Haaland and Odegaard have managed to combine it all. They are consummate team players yet also incredibly gifted individuals. While following in the previous generation’s footsteps, they look set to go further than any of them.

In 1992, the Premier League was formed and the course of English football changed forever. Notions of sport, entertainment and business became more closely entwined than ever before, attracting a global audience of unprecedented size.

Previously, there was just a smattering of foreign players, even at the top level. Horizons were narrower, and attitudes more insular. A parochial approach to recruitment dominated where the familiar triumphed over the exotic. Outside of the other home nations and Ireland, the first real wave of imports came from Scandinavia, and Norway in particular, during the early 1990s.