Hometown glory? Norwegian library unveils £100k history book donated by Erling Haaland

Rare 16th-century edition of Viking royal sagas given to Bryne by Manchester City footballer and his father

At his local library in the southern Norwegian town of Bryne, the father of superstar striker Erling Haaland made a confession. “Sometimes my son and I are a little impulsive,” Alf Inge Haaland, known as Alfie, told the assembled crowd on Monday morning.

The spontaneous act in question was the purchase of the only surviving privately owned edition of a 1594 book, Snorre Sturlasons Kongesagaer (Snorre Sturlason’s Royal Sagas). The auction purchase for 1.3m Norwegian kroner (£103,000) was Norway’s most expensive ever book sale.