Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals how Man Utd missed out on Erling Haaland & Jude Bellingham transfers

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed how Manchester United missed out on the signings of Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham during his time as manager.

The Norwegian, who was in charge at Old Trafford for just under three years between 2018 and 2021, has spoken before about United’s interest in the pair, with Bellingham even attending a tour of Carrington in the club’s efforts to sign him. As for Haaland, Solskjaer has a personal relationship with the striker, who he managed at Molde, and he also played in the same international team as his father.

But both players ultimately went to Borussia Dortmund rather than United and have subsequently established themselves as two of the world’s greatest stars at Manchester City and Real Madrid. Speaking recently on the Stick to Football podcast, Solskjaer revealed exactly why United failed to sign the duo.

“I had him [Haaland] in Molde, for two seasons,” explained the 51-year-old. “The summer before I got here, I rang the club and said ‘You’ve got to sign this boy – he’ll be top class’. That was June/July 2018, and they said no – they had enough reports on players.

“Then I became the caretaker manager, and we’d sold Haaland to RB Salzburg. 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. Even though with his links with Alfie [Haaland], and Manchester City and Leeds.

“It was the club’s decision to not go for it then. We never made bids or went in for him, until after he started scoring for Salzburg. By then, Borussia Dortmund were there, Juventus were there, everyone was there. His release clause then was still good - €60 million.

“He’s got more than just being a great lad. He’s such a team player, and one-on-one with a keeper, he doesn’t think about his own stats. He passes if someone else is through and it’ll be a 100 percent goal. He’s a gem.”

On Bellingham, Solskjaer added: “Jude, he was in the building. I was there, Sir Alex Ferguson was there, Bryan Robson and Eric Cantona were all there that day when he came to the club. 

“We all spoke to him and sold it as well as he could. He knew what he wanted a certain amount of minutes in the first team. He was 17 at the time, and he was the most mature 17-year-old I’ve ever met – he had it all planned out.”