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Erling Haaland defends agent Raiola after “greedy” claims during Man Utd transfer talks
Erling Haaland has defended the way Mino Raiola conducted himself during transfer talks with Manchester United.
Erling Haaland scores an unreal goal against Union Berlin
Erling Haaland secured a move to Borussia Dortmund in the January transfer window and the striker has now responded to claims his representatives were “greedy” during their failed talks with Manchester United.
The 19-year-old has labelled the suggestion he demanded huge sums of money from United as “comical” as he explained why he decided to join Dortmund.
Haaland joined the Bundesliga side for just £19million (€22.5m) in January after they met the release clause in his contract with RB Salzburg.
The youngster is having an unbelievable season, which taking into account his spell at both clubs has seen him score 36 goals in just 27 games.
Since joining Dortmund he has found the back of the net eight times from five appearances.
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United had made Haaland one of their main transfer targets for the January window but ended up pulling out of talks with reports that his representatives, including agent Mino Raiola, wanted to secure a share from future sales of the striker as part of the transfer, which United were not prepared to accept.
But Haaland has now dismissed these claims.
"No, it's the guys writing would have to speak to that," he told Norwegian outlet Viasport.
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"They'll have to explain it to me if they meet me. It's not my focus, whatsoever.
"It's kind of comical if I were to get that label.
“All the people closest to me know that's not the kind of person I am. It's really been kind of comical."
Haaland also defended the actions of Raiola during the talks.
The agent, who also represents Paul Pogba, has a rocky relationship with United due to continuing comments about the Frenchman wanting to leave Old Trafford.
"He's the best in the world at what he does, as simple as that. He's the best agent,” Haaland said.
"He gets a lot of negativity, and that's probably because he's doing such a great job for those he's working for.
“He has helped a lot and he's a good guy to have around."
Haaland had met with several teams before deciding to choose Dortmund as he next club and the youngster, who is the son of former Leeds United and Manchester City midfielder Alf-Inge Haaland, admitted the decision was purely for footballing reasons.
"The process was pretty simple on my end," he added.
"[I] just really played football, and wasn't very involved until the first half of the season was over. So I didn't have much to do with it to be honest. The process was to find the best possible club for me.
"Ole Gunnar has been very important for me in getting to where I am today. But we concluded that Dortmund was the best option for me.
"That was where I felt best about, and therefore it became Dortmund."