His name was Tom Arne Lund – and to this day he is still called Tommy in Romerike, where he lived – and always lived. The latter is an unimportant point here.

In a few days he will be 72 years old. Most of them he had kept away from the public. Nevertheless, many believe that he is the all-time Norwegian footballer. That combination would never be possible today.

Erling Braut Haaland is about 50 years younger than Tom Lund.

At the age of 21, he is already a phenomenon. On the football field, but also in the media. Well, Haaland still has less than 5 percent of Cristiano Ronaldo’s followers on Instagram.

But the curves will cross each other faster than anyone realizes. Because no player around the world will attract more attention on September 1, 2022, than a Roglander working in Manchester. Something like this has never happened before.

Brilliant on the pitch, overcast

In 2022, no footballer will be a star just on the pitch. Erling Braut Haaland is not a phenomenon without it also appearing on his social media accounts.

This sort of thing was never relevant to Tom Lund. Or.

Without checking, I’d be surprised if Tom Lund even has a Facebook profile. For the great hero Lillestm, long immortalized in a statue outside the rsen, is as a public cloud because he was brilliant in his active career.

Only at very rare intervals does he allow himself to be interviewed by local newspapers or the club’s own media channels. Instead, he has spent his time selling sportswear or training talented horses.

I still venture to claim that none of the many horses he’s ever bred had Tommy’s steps. Then they will win big races that have to be won.

Because where Erling Braut Haaland moves with brutal explosions, Tom Lund is more reminiscent of a ballroom dancer in his forward moves. Tom Lund has a strong elegance which he combines with excellent timing and ball control. Time and speed in dribbling that Norway had never seen before.

A talent this nation never saw in the 20th century, no matter what people said in Bod, Bergen or Trondheim.

Will not take over from Cruijff

But Tom Lund has qualities that will forever make him a mix of myth and tales of unfulfilled potential. He is afraid to fly. It may make you a queen, but it doesn’t make you a world soccer star.

Tom Lund was the player who was appointed to replace superstar Johan Cruijff at Ajax, then the best team in the world, when Cruijff left for Barcelona. But Tommy from Lillestrm said no and instead opted to create the best parent club in Norway, which would not have been possible without his outstanding presence.

Tom Lund was the genius behind one of Norway’s most legendary matches, the win over England at Ullevaal in 1981.

But Tommy never wanted to go to England. Or the Netherlands. And drive the car all the way when he plays an international away match or the European Cup with his beloved Lillestrm.

Brilliant naturalness

Tom Lund quit at the age of 32. And as a myth. You can browse the internet or the NRK archives and find clips of players doing things with the ball that no one else gets close to. It’s like scoring from an angle that no one else thought of.

A bit like Erling Braut Haaland did today. In a completely different way. But with a naturalness that only the most brilliant art of football can do. Norske Haaland is currently the best of his time, as stated by another former striker, Jan ge Fjørtoft.

Tom Lund never gave himself the chance to get there. But one of the most analogous football legends of all time lives in cyberspace discussions. Where we can still say something about who really is the best.

There you can also discuss Erling Braut Haaland’s private jet options. Just like that would never happen to Tom Arne Lund of Lillestrm.