There is something unusual about the list of top scorers in the Champions League this season. Robert Lewandowski is not top, and neither is Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Mohamed Salah or Erling Haaland.
Instead it is a forward who was let go by West Ham in January 2021 at a loss of £25m after 13 months at the club. Step forward Ajax’s Sébastien Haller, who had never played in the Champions League before this season.
It is a remarkable turnaround for the 27-year-old, whose 10 goals in the group phase are a record for a debutant. Not that he cares about records. “I’m keeping an eye on it, but only because friends, family and teammates remind me about it,” he tells the Guardian. “In fact five minutes ago Steven [Berghuis, his Ajax teammate] did. I’m not obsessed with it. I may have broken some records but mine will be broken as well. To me it matters more that we keep winning.”
Ajax won all their Champions League group games in a tough group with Borussia Dortmund, Sporting and Besiktas. Haller scored in every match, making his biggest mark in the opening fixture in Lisbon against Sporting, scoring four goals in a 5-1 rout. On Wednesday they face Benfica in the last 16 in the same city, although Haller says he has not watched back that memorable night.
“Everything I do on the pitch is stuck in my head,” he says. “Especially the chances I miss. Against Besiktas for example I missed three headers. I am a perfectionist. I don’t think: ‘Oh wow, I have scored 10’ I think: ‘It should have been 13, 14, 15.’” His perfectionism goes all the way down to how he cuts the lemon for his sparkling water and means he does not smile a lot on the pitch, even after scoring. “Ask anyone – I like a laugh off the pitch but on it, it can be distracting. You have to keep your focus.”
Thierry Henry had the same non-laughing drill but Haller says he did not copy the Frenchman in that aspect, although the former Arsenal forward was one of his idols, together with Didier Drogba. Haller has not been able to adapt the same style of play as those two. Most importantly, they were both a lot quicker than Haller.
“That’s the problem. I asked my mum for speed, but she couldn’t give it to me,” he says, laughing. “I’m not one to go on long, dribbling runs either because I’m not good at it! It’s a pity but also a blessing. I always have to think twice about which choice I make, have to make room in a different way, really time my runs because it’s difficult for me to overtake a defender. There were 10,000 boys with more talent on the streets where I come from. But it’s the choices you make that make the difference.”
Haller, who was born in France but plays for Ivory Coast, says he is blessed with a good mix of people around him who helped him “be more positive and never complain”. He grew up in the Paris suburb of Ris-Orangis. Paul Pogba, Mbappé, Riyad Mahrez, Anthony Martial and Henry are among others who had their football education on the stone squares and sandy pitches of France’s capital.
There is a lot of pressure on the kids to make it, which Haller finds “a bit scary”, and his father was different. “He never pushed me,” Haller says with a smile. “He won’t like reading this but he doesn’t know anything about football. Maybe that was my luck. But he was always getting me to training and games. He got up very early, because we first picked up other guys who had no one to take them. I am very proud of my father for that.”
Haller’s career has been full of ups and downs. He was tall for his age and a sensation for France’s youth teams. He was spotted by Didier Martel, a former Auxerre player and now scout for Utrecht, and moved to the Netherlands at the age of 20, first on loan and then permanently. A move to Eintracht Frankfurt followed and after two successful seasons in Germany, West Ham paid £45m for him.
West Ham fans have wondered how the player who struggled in England can be the Champions League top scorer but Haller explains there are a lot of reasons why he failed to perform as well as he wanted.
“I was brought in by Manuel Pellegrini but then David Moyes came and we got in a situation where we were … like trapped together,” he says. “I was playing in a system that I didn’t really enjoy. Moyes preferred someone like [Michail] Antonio up front, and I’m super happy he [Antonio]’s doing so well; I am for all the guys at West Ham. I had a good time there with them but I was also really mad at the situation, [with] the way we were playing, the way I was playing, the way I was feeling …”
Haller was not in the best period of his life, arriving with his wife seven months pregnant with their second child. “We had to stay in a hotel for a month, then had to go to an apartment, she had to arrange everything,” he explains. “Then the little one came and had some problems, suffering from bad reflux. He didn’t sleep at night, was crying all the time, in constant pain.
“I’m not the type that just shuts the door and acts like nothing is happening. You have to help to raise your children – it’s not only up to the mother. I was worrying about him, about my wife, who couldn’t sleep and was feeling like a zombie. Then you have to adapt to your new environment, a new competition, then there was Corona, pfffff … that was maybe a lot to deal with.”
He says he did not complain, just tried to make it work. “I don’t want to blame David. Sometimes a style of play doesn’t suit a player and I wasn’t the striker he needed. And I also wasn’t his signing. If you bring in players [as a manager] that cost money for the club, you need to show that you didn’t make a mistake.”
The move to Ajax to play for Erik ten Hag again made sense. It was Ten Hag who supercharged Haller’s career at Utrecht and his work at Ajax has led to him being mentioned as a possible future manager at Manchester United and Tottenham. “He can definitely go to a top competition,” Haller says. “No doubt. I have never seen a coach who is so obsessed with everything and I’ve had a lot of really good coaches. I like it when you have ideas and stick with them until the end to make it work.”
Still there were people who did not understand why he swapped the Premier League for the Eredivisie. “I had to think for a long time if I should do it. In the end I wanted to enjoy football. I thought: ‘Why am I thinking what other people think?’ They want to comment on everything they see, even if they don’t know about the situation. This is not their life, it’s my life. You can say: ‘Look at me, I play for a Premier League club, though I’m always on the bench.’
“But at Ajax I can score goals, play for trophies, play in the Champions League, enjoy football. It was a simple decision in the end, a no-brainer. So I went to David Moyes and said: ‘I am asking you if you can let me go and not block a move. I want my confidence back.’ Luckily he and the club agreed.”
Life in the Netherlands is good. He and his wife now have three children and he does not follow what is written about him in England, France or the Netherlands. He has enjoyed playing for Ivory Coast since November 2020 after not being selected for France’s senior squad. “If people say Didier Deschamps made a mistake, I think: ‘There is no mistake.’ I’m really proud and happy with the choices I make. My mother is proud, her family in Ivory Coast is proud.”
As for Ajax, they are in a position to win three trophies. “There is no limit for us,” he says. “Anything can happen, even in the Champions League.”
The club have been through some turbulent times of late with the director of football Marc Overmars leaving after sending inappropriate messages to female colleagues. Haller says the fallout has not affected the players. “In the dressing room everyone is focused on the next team we have to play,” he says. “Sure, a lot of players came to Ajax thanks to Marc but life in football never stops. You can never look back on what has happened.
“Yes, it’s absolutely an egoistic world. Football is a big fight to reach higher every day. Only if we stay humble, if we keep working like we have done before can we continue like we are at the moment. Losing is the easiest thing to do. To keep winning is the difficult part. But I like that.”