Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals Man Utd’s £4m mistake that could have ruined Man City treble bid

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed how he told Manchester United to sign Erling Haaland before he took charge of the club.

Haaland has been a sensation in the Premier League, breaking the league scoring record for one season with Manchester City, spearheading their latest title bid. A release clause also meant City only paid around half of what they would have had to for Haaland had there not been a clause in place going into last summer.

But United could have snapped up Haaland for much less had they taken the advice of Solskjaer ahead of appointing the Norwegian back in 2018.

Solskjaer worked with Haaland at Molde, and the striker was still with him at the Norwegian club when United received the advice.

“I called United about six months before I took over and told them that I’d got this striker that we had but they didn’t listen,” Solskjaer recalled, as reported by The Sun. “I asked for £4million for Haaland but they didn’t sign him.”

Shortly after, Solskjaer was appointed by United, and Haaland would go on to join Red Bull Salzburg during the following year for around £6million, joining Borussia Dortmund for just over £15million one year later. Haaland then joined City for £51.2million 2022, scoring 35 goals in 32 league appearances so far.

United were said to be in the race for Haaland before his move to City, but they were not in a position to offer the striker a real shot at major silverware, and that likely defined his decision to make the switch to the other side of Manchester. A case of if only for United, and indeed Jose Mourinho, who may have had a hand in the decision to reject Solskjaer’s transfer advice at the time.