Ruben Gabrielsen Calls Fredrik Aursnes the World's Most Underestimated Player
fredrik aursnes has been labeled the "footballer most underestimated in the world" by Ruben Gabrielsen, a former teammate who saw his rise from Molde up close. Gabrielsen said he did not expect Aursnes to reach that status, even while Haaland climbed toward the top of world football.
Gabrielsen’s Molde view
Gabrielsen told VG that he did not expect the pair to become, respectively, the best striker in the world and the footballer most underestimated in the world. He said it was possible to see early on that Haaland and Aursnes had talent and were very good, but their paths have since split in sharply different ways.
The defender said the two players are "são muitos diferentes" and that they "têm um grande sentido de humor". He also said, "Ambos ocupam muito espaço no campo."
Haaland, Aursnes at Molde
Aursnes was already at Molde in 2016, before Haaland moved up to the first team in 2017. Over the next year and a half, they became close friends, and Aursnes was one of Haaland’s main supports while the striker was still breaking through.
That shared time at Molde is the frame for Gabrielsen’s assessment. Haaland moved to RB Salzburg in the summer of 2018 and later continued his career at Manchester City, while Aursnes stayed in Norway until 2021 before joining Feyenoord.
Aursnes and Haaland path
A year later, Aursnes moved to Benfica, where he is now a Norwegian international. Haaland, also a Norwegian international, remains the more obvious headline name, which is why Gabrielsen’s comment lands as a direct contrast between fame and recognition.
Gabrielsen also said, "O Haaland só estava interessado em marcar. Se não marcasse, ficava furioso". Aursnes, meanwhile, consulted Haaland in recent months before officially returning to the Norwegian national team in February, another sign that their connection still runs through the current squad.
For Norway, the pairing matters because both players remain central references, but Gabrielsen’s quote puts Aursnes in a different lane: a high-level player whose value has grown without the same public profile. That is the edge of the story now — a teammate who watched both men in the same dressing room now placing Aursnes beside the world’s best striker, only with a label built on how much less attention he gets.
