Claims that Arsenal could have signed Erling Haaland from Molde early in his career are fanciful, according to the club’s former scout Brian McDermott.
Back in 2018, Haaland was the subject of widespread interest after making an eye-catching breakthrough by scoring 20 goals in 50 games for Molde in Norway. Arsenal were one of the clubs who scouted the young striker before he ended up moving to Red Bull Salzburg in January 2019.
His career has gone from strength to strength, with 29 goals in 27 appearances for Salzburg and 86 in 89 games for Borussia Dortmund taking him to Manchester City this summer in a £51million transfer. Haaland is now tearing up the Premier League, with 17 goals in 11 games, sparking more speculation about his early days.
John Vik, Molde’s former chief scout, told The Athletic in September that “ Liverpool could have got him. Arsenal could have got him” after scouting him extensively back in 2018. But former Reading and Leeds manager McDermott, who also worked as a senior international scout for the Gunners, thinks Haaland’s father, Alfe-Inge, already had his son’s career path mapped out.
“People can say such-and-such a club could have had him, but a lot of it is pie in the sky,” McDermott told The Athletic. “I watched Haaland three times and I was, like, ‘Blimey, who is this kid?’. I met his dad and we had really good conversations, but I felt they knew the path they wanted for him.
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“You can go to a massive club at that age and you can get lost. I’m not saying he would have done, because he was outstanding, but I just sensed he and his dad wanted to do it differently. It was already written.
“He went to Salzburg and, yes, I get that. Borussia Dortmund, yes, I get that. From there you can go to Manchester City, Real Madrid, wherever. They had it worked out.”
As well as recommending Haaland to Arsenal, McDermott also put forward William Saliba, former Wolves winger Francisco Trincao, who was then playing for Braga and Elif Elmas, who now plays for Napoli but was then at Fenerbahce.
Saliba was signed by Arsenal from Saint-Etienne for £27million in the summer of 2019 and, after loan spells at Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille, he is now performing extremely well for the Gunners.
McDermott scouted Saliba extensively and knew he was well equipped to move to the Premier League. He said: “(Arsenal scout) Ty Gooden had spotted him at Saint-Etienne and I was asked to go and give my opinion. I watched him a number of times. He played right-back the first game I saw him. I could see he wasn’t a right-back, but he was absolutely nailed on to be a top player.”
