Pranav Nair
Manchester United failed to sign Erling Haaland for £3m in 2019
According to the Mirror, Manchester United had an opportunity to sign Norwegian wonderkid Erling Haaland for a paltry £3m while he was still at Molde.
Having begun his footballing journey at Bryne, it was at Molde that the youngster began to hone his game as a deadly forward. The Norwegian giants were then managed by United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Both Everton and United appear to have been alerted to the youngster’s potential. While the Toffees went cold, United missed out thanks to a misunderstanding.
As per the report, the pieces were in place for a United representative to ring Haaland’s agent Jim Solbakken at 9 am and finalise a deal worth £3million plus add ons.
Molde believed it would be 9 am Norwegian time. When the call came through it was already 10 am in Scandinavia and RB Salzburg had pipped United to the player.
Scandinavian scout, Bryan King revealed that the failure to land the player was due to a lack of communication. Had the issue been ironed out better, Haaland may have been plying his trade at Old Trafford today.
“It was just simply a lack of communication – a freak situation with no one to blame.”
Crying over spilt milk!
Haaland went on to explode at the Austrian giants, eventually earning himself a move to Borussia Dortmund in January 2020. United were also keen on the player but was rejected in favour of the Germans.
With the summer transfer window nearing, it would appear that the race for Haaland will be the major talking point this time around.
United continue to be linked with the player. However, we will now have to fork out much more than pocket change to land him.
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Alongside Kylian Mbappe, Haaland is one of the players primed to take the moniker as the next great footballing superstar. It is frustrating to realise that we could have landed the player, especially for a pittance.
There is, however, no point crying over spilt milk and it remains to be seen just how costly our oversight will prove to be.
