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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claims he rang Man United and told them to sign 28-goal striker
Former Manchester United player and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has now been lamenting a striker he really wanted the club to sign.
Solskjaer’s period as Man United boss does feel quite long ago now, a manager who was perhaps understated in what he achieved at times.
And with Erik ten Hag now struggling to lift the club to new heights, the difficulty of the job is becoming more and more clear.
And although Chris Sutton for example is now calling for Ten Hag to be sacked and replaced with Roberto De Zerbi, it seems things do need to be fixed at the club beforehand.
But at least what is clear right now is that Man United do have a striker who can lead them through the next few years, Rasmus Hojlund.
Although injured right now, Hojlund looks to have found his confidence at Old Trafford, and he clearly has the ability to match.
That being said, when speaking on the ‘’ podcast, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer shared a story of how he told Man United to go ahead and sign a different striker beforehand.
Solskjaer explained that he called the United bosses to tell them about Erling Haaland’s ability, but nothing ever happened.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told Man United to sign prolific striker Erling Haaland
Given Solskjaer worked with Haaland at Molde, he identified his rich talent way before his move to Manchester City, which has now seen him score 28 goals in a fairly indifferent season so far by his standards.
Speaking on the podcast, Solskjaer said Man United could have signed Haaland for just €20m.
Solskjaer said: “I had him in Molde for about 18 months, no, two seasons more or less.
“And the summer before I got here [Manchester], I rang the club and said you have got to sign this boy, he’ll be top, absolutely top class.
“That was June, July 2018, and they said nah, we’ve got enough reports, okay no problem.
“Then I become the temporary caretaker [manager] and he had been sold to Salzburg, I tell the club straight away, buy him, straight away because he didn’t play for them for three or four months, sign him now because he’s got a release clause, we knew that.
“Because we knew and no one else then would have paid that money.”
Ian Wright replied: “What kind of money would it have been?
Solskjaer: “€20m, it would have been a bargain yeah, and maybe at that time even with his links with Alfie [Haaland] and City and Leeds.”
Can’t look back now
Whilst it must be hard for Man United fans to hear Solskjaer admit that the club could have easily signed a striker of Haaland’s ability, that is now all in the past.
United will hope they are about to head into an exciting new era under Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s stewardship, and they’ll be more focused on finding the next big striking sensation.
That being said, it seems as if the club do also have a couple of players to clear out.