Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed the club refused to pay £4million for Erling Haaland in 2018.
Haaland, now 22, has become one of the best footballers in the world since that snub. The Norway international has scored 51 goals for Manchester City this season and was named as the Football Writers' Association's (FWA) Footballer of the Year on Friday.
Solskjaer, who managed United between December 2018 and November 2021, had the inside track on Haaland's remarkable talent after coaching him at Molde. He urged United to shell out a relatively small price tag for the youngster, but club chiefs said no.
Solskjaer made the shock revelation during an interview with The Sun. He said: "I called United about six months before I took over and told them that I’d got this striker that we had, but they didn’t listen. I asked for £4million for Haaland, but they didn’t sign him."
United's decision not to sign Haaland sums up their scattergun transfer policy under former chief Ed Woodward. They agreed big transfer fees on established players during Woodward's time in charge between 2013 and 2022, rather than invest in youngsters.
The likes of Angel Di Maria, Victor Lindelof, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Fred, Harry Maguire, Donny van de Beek and Cristiano Ronaldo were signed for big transfer fees and/or handed lucrative contracts but failed to live up to expectation.
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Haaland, meanwhile, has gone from strength to strength after scoring 16 goals for Solskjaer's Molde during the 2018 campaign. He went on to score 29 goals in just 27 games for Red Bull Salzburg before joining Borussia Dortmund in January 2020.
Haaland took the German football by storm to become one of the most talked about footballers on the planet. He hit 86 goals in just 89 games for Dortmund, with two of those strikes coming against RB Leipzig in the 2021 German Cup final. Dortmund won 4-1.
After that, every club in Europe wanted to sign Haaland. He decided to join Pep Guardiola's side last summer, with City paying just over £51m for his services thanks to a release clause.
Haaland is now leading City's treble charge. They are aiming to become just the second side in history to win the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in the same season. The only club to have achieved that feat so far are United 24 years ago, with Solskjaer scoring the winner against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
United's failure to sign Haaland is a sore spot for the club's fans. In an interview with Sky Sports in October, Gary Neville asked the prolific forward: "Ole was your manager [at Molde]. How are you not at Manchester United?"
Haaland simply replied: "You have to ask him."
