Scout claims Man Utd fumbled major transfer move for striker over agonising time mix-up

Manchester United are said to have narrowly missed the deadline to signed now Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland. The Red Devils were heavily linked with the striker prior to his move from Borussia Dortmund to City.

Haaland was linked with many of the biggest clubs, including Real Madrid and Barcelona, with his father and late agent Mino Raiola meeting with a number of clubs before the player made his decision. The decision, in hindsight, was a pretty wise one, with Haaland going on to set the Premier League scoring record for one season in his first campaign, while he also won the treble, including the Premier League and Champions League titles.

Whether he would have achieved that sort of success with United is doubtful, but the Red Devils would have liked to have found out. According to senior Scandanavian scout Bryan King, who has worked with the likes of Everton and Tottenham, they might had they met a deadline before the striker signed for RB Salzburg in 2019.

“I said to Haaland’s dad that I’d love him to go over to Everton so we could have a look at him, and sure enough we managed to work it,” King told the Inside Track. “He came over for three or four days and did okay, but the general opinion was that because of his size, would he be as effective?

“But Man United should have definitely signed Haaland. I know the chief Scandavavian scout at United and he worked really hard to get him over there. There was a mix-up at the end of the season and a lot of people were on holiday at United.

“They were told that they had to ring Molde at a certain time in the morning. The guy who was handling Haaland’s deal from Molde to Salzburg was Jim Solbakken and he has good connections with Man United. He said that if the call is not in by 10 o’clock, then Haaland will go to Salzburg.

“The people at United who made the call made it an hour late. They should have rung at nine but they rang at 10, which is 11 in Norway. That caused the deal not to go through!”