Erling Haaland is one of the best players in the world and a generational talent. No club would hesitate to take him now, as the value he brings to a team is immense. He has become synonymous with the word goal itself due to his great scoring ability and statistics.
Just in the last game for Manchester City, he scored a goal in a 3-1 win over Manchester United, piling up on their misery. But the fortunes of both clubs may have been different if the Red Devils had made one smart move years ago.
Former Man Utd manager reveals how the club missed out on Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland had started his career at Norwegian club Molde, where he played under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for two seasons. Both of them would part ways soon, with Haaland going to RB Salzburg while Ole would take charge of Manchester United.
During his time at United, Ole had wanted the club to bring in his former striker Haaland, knowing all his abilities and potential. Recently, he revealed that he had informed the club while at Molde to sign the player, but they had refused. After he became caretaker manager at Old Trafford, he made the request to sign Haaland from Salzburg.
🇳🇴🗣️ Ole Gunnar Solskjær: "I had Haaland in Molde, for two seasons. The summer before I got here (to Man United), I rang the club and said: you've got to sign this boy. He’ll be top class."
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) March 6, 2024
"That was June, July 2018, and they said no. They had enough reports on players. Then I… pic.twitter.com/QM6XVqE7Iy
He said that the club decided not to go for the player despite a low release clause, “I tell the club straight away to buy him while he has a release clause. We knew that then, and no one else would’ve paid the money—€20 million; it would’ve been a bargain. It was the club’s decision not to go for it then. We never made bids or went in for him, until after he started scoring for Salzburg.”
After that, we all know what happened. He went to Borussia Dortmund, where he made his name. Then Manchester City grabbed him again for a very low fee of around €60 million, where he won the treble last season. If United had listened to Ole, then we could have seen a different story.
Erling Haaland’s record at Molde under Solskjaer
Erling Haaland started his career at Norwegian club Bryne. However, he later made a transition to Molde, where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer brought him. He started scoring right from the start, and started winning games as well. In the next two seasons he played there, he played 50 games. In that period, he scored 20 times and gave 6 assists. He was their top scorer last season.
ERLING HAALAND'S GOALSCORING STATS BY CLUB:
— JT (@_MCFC_JOE) February 13, 2024
• Molde FK 🇳🇴
50 games
20 goals
• RB Salzburg 🇦🇹
27 games
29 goals
• Borrusia Dortmund 🇩🇪
89 games
86 goals
• Man City 🏴
78 games
73 goals
HAALAND can ONLY do it in a 'SUPERTEAM'? pic.twitter.com/QeaoJc4Xif
He was likened to many international soccer superstars at the time, and he even received interest from some big clubs. Haaland had also won the Eliteserien Breakthrough of the Year award for bursting onto the soccer scene. After that, both Haaland and Ole left the club to pursue their own careers abroad. Haaland has also somewhat confirmed he could be changing clubs once again.
Erling Haaland will now focus on his next game with City against Copenhagen in the UCL tonight.
