Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has insisted he tried to persuade Manchester United Signal Erling Haaland as a teenager, only to have her pleas ignored.
Solskjaer oversaw Haaland’s development during their respective spells at Molde between 2017 and 2018, serving as caretaker manager before taking up the job permanently at Man Utd.
Speaking to an audience at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel on Friday evening, Solskjaer revealed that when Jose Mourinho was manager, he tried to persuade United to take on the then-rising Haaland.
“I got in touch with United because we had this talented striker that they should have,” Solskjaer said.
“But they didn’t listen, unfortunately. Forty lakhs, I had asked for. But they never signed. Forty lakhs! Don’t ask [where he is now], that is very good.”
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United attempted to sign Haaland from Red Bull Salzburg in January 2020 when Solskjaer was at the helm, but the striker opted to join Borussia Dortmund instead.
Following in the footsteps of his father Alf-Inge at Manchester City last summer, he scored 86 goals in 89 games in two and a half seasons for BVB.
Holland Having already broken the record for most Premier League goals in a campaign, he scored 35 times in his debut campaign.
City are also on the verge of winning the treble. They lead the Premier League by one point from Arsenal but with a game in hand, they face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final second leg on Wednesday and Man Utd in the FA Cup final in June.
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