Former West Ham United, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax striker Sebastien Haller really doesn’t fancy himself as the next Derren Brown.
Because, by the Frenchman’s own admission, ‘I am the worst predictor. So, when I say something, the opposite happens’. Though that is not always a bad thing.
Take, for instance, when Sebastien Haller pointed out before Utrecht welcomed Ajax to the Stadion Galgenwaard a few weeks back that he seldom finds the net against his old employers.
The goal which gave Utrecht the lead in an eventual 4-0 demolition of Francesco Farioli’s Eredivisie leaders in late-April, then, would have felt all the more sickening for the visiting Ajax supporters. Haller diverted a clever volley into the net.
And, as good as his word, he resisted the temptation to celebrate in front of the fans who saw him score 47 goals in just two seasons between 2020 and 2022.
They say ‘never go back’ in football.
And when one-time West Ham United hitman Haller secured an emotional return to the club where he made his name a decade ago – re-joining Utrecht on loan from Borussia Dortmund – a slow start to life back in familiar surroundings had fans and pundits alike wondering if this was a doomed venture made with the heart rather than the head.
Former West Ham striker Sebastien Haller bounces back in the Eredivisie
Haller, who joined West Ham for a club-record £45 million six years ago before he left The Hammers for Ajax under a cloud of regret, scored only once in his first 10 games back in the Eredivisie.
Following a similarly forgettable stint in Spain with Leganes, the man himself could have been forgiven for fearing the instincts with which Haller dominated the Champions League before that cancer diagnosis in 2022 had departed him for good.
“Obviously, the last 18 months have been challenging for me and my family,” Haller told Reuters recently. “I now take everything step by step and try to enjoy every moment. I don’t want to have any regrets.
“Given what has happened over the last months, it’s great today to be here in front of you and speak. But I think it might take months or years to take it all in, what has happened over the last years.”
That Haller is back playing top-level sport is an achievement in itself.
That he is now enjoying a run of goals in three successive games for the first time in two years, meanwhile, is testament not only to Haller’s remarkable resolve, but also the enduring quality beginning to shine through once again.
Borussia Dortmund loanee Haller hopes to stay at Utrecht
That acrobatic effort against Ajax sandwiched a clever, typically-mercurial backheel against Groningen and a ruthless back post finish in another 4-0 win, this time against RKC Waalwijk.
“It is of course hopeful that our Haller has regained some of his old shine,” Utrecht fanatics Paul Pessel and Appie Bonnen say via the Pessel and Boonen podcast on RTV Utrecht. “He played fantastically.
“He did a few moves and that showed that he is feeling good. Haller in this state is of course of great value to our team.”
Haller, who earned that life-changing switch to Frankfurt after two impressive seasons at Utrecht at the beginning of his career, admits he would love to stay beyond the current campaign, so long as terms can be agreed with Dortmund.
And, according to reports, talks are underway between the two clubs already.
Considering the trauma and the uncertainty Sebastien Haller has had to contend with over the last few years, no one would begrudge him a long-awaited return to happier times.
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