According to a top scout, Man Utd missed out on the signing of Erling Haaland from Molde in 2018 because they didn’t call the player in time.
The Red Devils have been under fire for poor recruitment in the last decade , as some high-profile additions have fallen short of expectations.
United’s search for a striker has seen them sign Radamel Falcao, Edinson Cavani, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rasmus Hojlund among other players.
Despite spending enormous amount of money on new players, United have not successfully challenged for the Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson departed in 2013.
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, who has scored 50 goals in 50 Premier League match, was just one hour away from coming to Old Trafford.
According to Bryan King, a senior Scandinavian scout for Tottenham, Aston Villa, and Everton, has revealed this information in an interview with Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast.
“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 podcast.
“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!”
In the post-Ferguson era, United have seen a number of transfer disasters, but few have been as careless as this one.
This revelation will infuriate a lot of fans, as it demonstrates the enormity of the task facing INEOS in trying to rectify the transfer deals that are so obviously flawed at Old Trafford.
Good luck Sir Jim Ratcliffe!
