Erling Haaland clear on where blame lies for him not joining Man Utd

Guardiola claims 'best Man City tactic' is to get ball to Haaland

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The sight of watching the unstoppable Erling Haaland net his sixth hat-trick of the season in the sky blue colours of Manchester City will hurt Manchester United fans for a whole variety of reasons, not least because the clubs are bitter rivals. But also because his path to the Premier League could have been entirely different had the Red Devils not missed their opportunity to bring the powerful striker to Old Trafford in a bargain deal.

Haaland burst onto the scene with Red Bull Salzburg in 2019 after a magnificent Champions League campaign, keeping up with the likes of Robert Lewandowski in his first season playing in the competition.

The Norwegian’s rapid rise saw him become the most coveted talent in Europe as his representatives and father Alf-Inge Haaland – the former City player – weighed up his future. In January 2020, it became apparent that Haaland had outgrown the Austrian club and would be leaving to join an elite club, with United firmly in the mix after agreeing a fee with his club.

Their manager at the time, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, had built a close relationship with Haaland after working with him as a youngster at Molde and reuniting the pair felt like a perfect solution, particularly as United needed a regular goalscorer.

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Haaland’s release clause meant he could leave Salzburg for just £17million. However, the caveat of negotiating with Haaland was that he wanted another release clause inserted into his United contract. That, plus exorbitant commission payments to Haaland Sr and agent Mino Raiola on top, convinced United to pull the plug on negotiations.

Later in the same window, it was announced that Haaland had signed for Borussia Dortmund. United perhaps felt vindicated in their decision to withdraw from negotiations, as they were not prepared to let themselves get held to ransom, but there was a feeling of dread that they may have let the world’s most promising striker slip through their fingers.

For the player, there was one person to blame for the breakdown of the move. When asked by United icon Gary Neville in October why he hadn’t joined Solskjaer at Old Trafford, Haaland responded bluntly to Sky Sports: “You have to ask him [Solskjaer].”

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As it would turn out, Haaland proved to be even more devastating than many predicted. In 89 games for Dortmund, he struck 85 goals and his exploits in Germany once again encouraged top European sides like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich to consider a move.

But City had the pedigree and financial pull to get the deal done, paying a £51m fee to Dortmund in July 2022 to clinch his signature.

This season alone, he has struck 42 goals in 36 appearances and is averaging a goal every 69 minutes in all competitions – a rate unmatched by any other forward in the world.

He has already broken Tommy Johnson’s 94-year record for most goals for City in a single season. And with 28 goals in the Premier League and 11 games remaining, he looks destined to surpass Mohamed Salah’s record of 32 goals in a Premier League season – and could even reach the 34-goal benchmark set by Alan Shearer.

Suggestions from Jamie Carragher that he had joined the “wrong club” look to be wide of the mark, even if there are some justifiable concerns about how the 22-year-old fits into their style of play.

Far from making a mistake in picking his future clubs in January three years ago and last summer, Haaland appears to have made perfect choices for his development as he prepares to smash numerous goalscoring records to pieces.

And if he goes to help City clinch a fifth Premier League title win in six seasons, Solskjaer and the United executives who rejected him will be left with crimson-coloured faces after their catastrophic error in judgement.

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