Ole Gunnar Solskjær has revealed that Manchester United could have signed Erling Haaland for just £17 million.
It seems like some clubs passed up on the golden opportunity to sign Haaland, with the player himself mentioning Copenhagen’s decision to reject the chance to secure his services in 2016.
As destiny would eventually have it, the 23-year-old eventually signed for City and as he admitted, he is “happy” at the club after more than one and half seasons.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær says Manchester United could have signed Erling Haaland for just £17 million
Before Rasmus Hojlund’s arrival at Old Trafford this summer, who has looked like a real find so far, Manchester United have desperately needed a striker to replace the likes of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie.
Meanwhile, City managed to replace one of the Premier League’s greatest number nines in Sergio Aguero with the Norwegian international, who has the potential to surpass his legacy at the club.
Now, Ole Gunnar Solskjær has revealed that Manchester United turned down the chance to sign Erling Haaland for £17 million.
“I had him at Molde for about 18 months. No, two seasons. more or less, and the summer before I got here, I rang the club, said: ‘you’ve got to sign this boy. He will be top. Absolutely top class. That was June, July 2018, and they said, ‘Nah, we’ve got enough reports.’ Okay, no problem”, he said on The Overlap’s Stick To Football show.
“Then I became the temporary or caretaker, we’d sold him to Salzburg, I tell the club, straightaway, buy him, straightaway. Because he didn’t play for them for three or four months, just sign him now because he’s got a release clause. We knew that and no one else then would have paid that money.”
“€20 million (£17 million).”
“It would have been a bargain. Maybe at the time, even with his links to Alfie [Haaland] and City and Leeds, maybe I think he would have thought…yeah.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjær confirmed that it was Manchester United who perhaps did not understand the generational talent that Erling Haaland was and as a result, they decided not to even pursue his signature.
“It was the club’s decision not to go for him then. We never made bids or never went in for him until after they realised when he started scoring for Salzburg but then Dortmund were there, Juventus were there, everyone was there. There was another release clause that was not bad. €60 million (£51.2 million)”
“I had him for 18 months, sign him. You know them.”
Erling Haaland should be happy that the Red Devils were uninterested
While the admission from Ole Gunnar Solskjær proves Manchester United were the losers from their decision not to sign Erling Haaland, ultimately, the player in question turned out to be the real winner.
If Haaland was at United instead of City, he perhaps would not have won either the Premier League or the Champions League by now and even a few years later.
However, at the Etihad Stadium, there is no knowing how many major honours the Leeds-born striker will scoop up.