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Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was convinced Erling Haaland transfer deal was happening
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has missed out on Erling Haaland, with the 19-year-old sealing a transfer to Borussia Dortmund instead.
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was convinced he’d won the transfer battle for Erling Haaland prior to the teenager’s move to Borussia Dortmund, reports say. The 19-year-old is moving to the Wesfalenstadion in a £20million deal.
Manchester United boss Solskjaer rates Haaland highly and, up until Sunday, had been hoping to bring the player to Old Trafford.
The Red Devils manager has recently seen Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood hit top gear after an inconsistent campaign so far.
Yet, despite that, the United manager felt Haaland was a player who would have added a new dimension to his attack.
The club have insisted they walked away from the deal due to fears over having to negotiate with Mino Raiola.
Yet The Sun say United boss Solskjaer was convinced he’d won the transfer battle for Haaland’s signature.
Recently, the Norwegian jetted out to Austria to hold talks with the 19-year-old.
He and Ed Woodward both travelled to the meeting and held conversations about a move to Old Trafford with Haaland and his father, Alf-Inge.
Yet, ultimately, United have missed out.
Dortmund represents a new and exciting challenge for the teenager, who expressed his delight upon joining the Bundesliga titans on Sunday.
He said: “I had intensive discussions with the club management and the sports management, especially with Hans-Joachim Watzke, Michael Zorc and trainer Lucien Favre.
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"There was a feeling right from the start that I absolutely wanted to switch to this club, go this route and play football in this incredible Dortmund atmosphere in front of more than 80,000 spectators.
"I'm already burning for it."
Haaland’s agent, Mino Raiola, has insisted that United were very much in for Haaland prior to his move to Dortmund.
“I do not know if Manchester United are briefing this but if they are then they are covering their own loss and that I find strange and disappointing,” Raiola told the Telegraph.
“If they want to blame someone then, fine, blame me but the player is happy. He has made his choice and we went through a normal process.”
Raiola also insisted there was no issue with United chief Ed Woodward.
“There was no fall-out between me and (United executive vice-chairman) Ed Woodward,” he added.
“It was just a normal negotiation and the player has chosen a different path.”