Manchester United's new director of football John Murtough was reportedly responsible for a mistake which cost the club the chance to sign Erling Haaland for just £3million. The £100m-rated striker is a target for top clubs in the Premier League and beyond after hitting an incredible 47 goals in 48 games for Borussia Dortmund.
United were widely regarded as favourites to sign the centre-forward in the January transfer window last year, with boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer having coached the player at Molde.
But they pulled out of talks, with Dortmund snapping him up for £18m after he scored 29 goals in 27 games for Red Bull Salzburg.
Since then he has continued his remarkable goalscoring record, and is now believed to be on the radars of Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid as well as United ahead of the summer window.
But the Red Devils had the chance to sign him even before he joined Austrian side Salzburg.
United were closing in on his capture from Norwegian club Molde in the summer of 2018, only for confusion over different time zones to foil their pursuit.
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Man Utd's new football director John Murtough (Image: PA)
Everton’s former Scandinavian scout Brian King previously said the mix-up was simply down to a lack of communication with nobody in particular to blame.
But according to Football Insider, United's new Football Director Murtough was allegedly the man responsible.
The report cites a source involved in the negotiations who said Murtough was the person supposed to make the call to Solbakken.
However, the mix-up has not hampered Murtough's rise up the United hierarchy.
Murtough is now heading up United's new recruitment process after being appointed into his new role last week.
He will work alongside manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and new technical director Darren Fletcher in helping to bring players to Old Trafford.