City target Haaland could have been a Red
BORUSSIA Dortmund chief HansJoachim Watzke has revealed that his club had to give City target Erling Haaland a release clause in his contract when signing him or else they would have lost out to United.
Haaland emerged as one of the most exciting players in world football at Red Bull Salzburg in 2019 and there was a clamour for his signature ahead of the 2020 January transfer window.
The Reds were interested in the Norwegian sensation, especially as his compatriot Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was in charge at Old Trafford, had played a hand in his meteoric rise at Molde.
However, it was Dortmund who stole in ahead of the pack to sign
Haaland for just £18m and he has only gone from strength to strength in Germany, netting a remarkable 82 goals in just 86 games. Now there is once again a transfer race brewing for his signature.
It’s widely understood that a £63m release clause will become activated this summer with the 21-year-old in line for a massive move. The Blues, the former club of Haaland’s father Alf-Inge, are the favourites but Watzke has explained how he nearly moved to the red half of Manchester two-and-a-half-years ago.
“We gave Erling Haaland a release clause... otherwise he would have gone to Manchester United,” he told 19:09 Talk. He then strongly hinted that the striker would be leaving Signal Iduna Park this summer:
“He has a decision to make, it will come eventually. But I’m sure we’ll find the new Haaland. We need the new Haaland.”
M.E.N. Sport reported after
Haaland’s move to Dortmund was confirmed that United pulled out of the deal as they refused to agree to the same buyout clause as well as a percentage of future sales going towards his agent, the late Mino Raiola.
Interim United boss Ralf Rangnick has told the club they need to sign young players of Haaland’s calibre in order to be a success. He said: “Haaland is a young player, he is 21 or 22, this is one of those players I spoke about. But, on the other hand, he has developed into one of the most expensive strikers in the world.
“He could be one of those examples where I think the focus should be on to try and identify and find and then convince players who could be Manchester United players for the next couple of years.”