Why Aune Heggebo will shine at West Brom, £4.7m ace ‘a mix of Gerrard and Haaland’

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With SK Brann second in the Norwegian Eliteserien table and looking forward to a Champions League qualifier against Red Bull Salzburg later in July, this hardly feels like the ideal moment for star striker Aune Heggebo to leave for West Brom.

Yet, the reaction coming out of Norway as West Bromwich Albion agree a £4.7 million deal is that this is a job very well done by the Bergen-based outfit.

Fabrizio Romano reported on Friday lunchtime that Aune Heggebo is on his way to the Hawthorns.

West Brom struggled for goals last season. Josh Maja missed the final five months of the 2024/25 campaign yet still finished it as the club’s top scorer with 12 goals. Daryl Dike endured another year interrupted by injuries, while Grady Diangana and Adam Armstrong have both departed.

West Brom were interested in Lawrence Shankland, only to see the Scotland international sign a new contract with Hearts this week. The Baggies like Jacques Siwe too but Watford could yet land the Guingamp star as their pursuit of Vivaldo Semedo hits the buffers.

Heggebo, then, is not only a sizeable coup but also a very useful signing at a very good time.

SK Brann striker Aune Heggebo tipped to shine at West Brom

Jesper Mathisen, a pundit for Norwegian channel TV 2, feels that the 5.5 million euro deal agreed between Brann and West Brom is good news for all parties.

SK Brann may have some pretty important fixtures coming up – they are in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League for the first time since 2008 – but Mathisen feels that the time is right to cash in on a striker who appears to have reached the peak of his potential price-tag.

“This is a very good job by [director of football] Per-Ove Ludvigsen and Brann,” the pundit says. “The fact that they turned down offers this winter and at the same time extended his contract means that they are now getting paid many times more.”

According to TV 2, Brann rejected an offer of just over £1 million from an unnamed club in January. Heggebo then signed a new deal the following month.

Anders Pamer, a Scandinavian sports journalist, is confident that Heggebo will make a good impression at West Brom meanwhile.

“He is, in many ways, a classic English target striker,” Pamer says. “So I think the Championship will suit him.”

Heggebo was likened to Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland

Still only 23 and 6ft tall, Heggebo was sensationally described as a ‘mix between Erling Haaland and Steven Gerrard’ by former Brann teammate Sivert Heltne Nilsen in conversation with Netavissen back in 2021.

It was the leadership qualities he displayed as an even younger man which encouraged those Gerrard comparisons. The similarities with Haaland are a lot easier to spot.

A silky-smooth, instinctive striker who likes to finish off his chances with just one touch, Heggebo scored 15 goals last season and has seven in 13 games so far this.

“For Brann, it is logical to sell him this summer,” Pamer says, agreeing with the earlier comments made by Mathisen.

A summer sale, he feels, was all part of the Brann plan.

“They have worked hard to extend his contract. I think the goal was for him to deliver a good spring season and be sold.

“It’s good craftsmanship, there’s nothing else to say other than that. I hope they invest the money well.”