Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai joked that Erling Haaland is ‘a bit sick’ for the lengths he goes to in a bid to improve performance.

Since joining Manchester City for a mere £51 million last summer, Haaland has been amazing. The Norwegian has maintained his form from the previous season, when he scored a record-tying 52 goals to help his team win a historic treble.

In recent interviews, Haaland has spoken about a number of techniques he applies in order to improve his sleep. The 23-year-old admitted to taping his mouth shut overnight and also wearing special glasses in the evening that block out blue light

And it seems that may only be the surface of his regular habits, with Szoboszlai – who played alongside Haaland at Austrian side RB Salzburg – suggesting there is plenty more going on behind the scenes.

“I talked to [Salah] a lot because I was interested in how he saw it,” Szoboszlai told Hungarian outlet Fodball.

“He didn’t do [meditation] until he was about 28 years old, then he decided not to eat pasta, bread, basically he doesn’t drink alcohol.

“He’s been doing this since then, and if there’s training at noon, he’s already in the gym at 10.30. I don’t judge anyone, everyone can do whatever they want.

“When we played in Salzburg I meditated with [Haaland] two or three times because we were in the same room and at first I looked stupid and then I got in. He had a pair of glasses that he wore, and I used them for a while because he said they would make me sleep better and sleepy faster, but if I had, I would wear them now.

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“It didn’t help me, but maybe it’s because I didn’t believe in him as much as he did, but that’s everyone’s own business. He does a lot of things that people probably don’t know, but I’ve been to his apartment. The guy is a bit sick.”