Details emerge of clause allowing Man Utd to go all in for Haaland deal
Manchester United could find success at the second time of asking in their hunt for Erling Braut Haaland due to a release clause inserted into his Borussia Dortmund contract, according to a trusted journalist.
Haaland exploded onto the scene in September with a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for RB Salzburg, the Norwegian going on to score 28 goals before the turn of the year for the Austrian side.
Such form peaked United’s interest and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were heavily linked with a move for the striker, who turns 20 in July.
However, Dortmund beat the Red Devils to Haaland’s signature, his father revealing that the fact that the “whole” of Dortmund wanted his son swayed the decision in the Bundesliga giants’ favour.
Speaking to ESPN FC, though, journalist Rob Dawson outlined that United will still have hope of signing Haaland if they can meet the striker’s release clause.
“The interesting thing about that deal [with Dortmund], though, is that his representatives made sure there was a release clause in that deal, which means that if a team were to meet that in the summer, he would have the freedom to go and talk to them,” Dawson said.
“Real Madrid are interested, they’ve got goalscoring issues that they think Haaland might be able to solve.
“But United’s interest hasn’t gone away. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knows him very well from their time together at Molde, he knows his father very well – he used to play for Leeds.
“So if a situation arose where Haaland wanted to leave Dortmund in the summer, United would be very much interested still even though he turned them down in January.”
United have had to rely on 18-year-old Mason Greenwood – who has stepped up impressively – and Anthony Martial for periods this term due to Marcus Rashford’s back injury.
Dawson added that Solskjaer is “desperate” to find something different to the options he currently has at his disposal.
“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is desperate for that type of centre forward. They’ve got Anthony Martial, who has filled in admirably this season,” he said.
“He’ scored a lot of goals with his pace and his movement, but they need someone who is a bit more like a target man, a bit more of a central focal point for the attack.”
Haaland has had an electric start to his Dortmund career, scoring 12 goals in 11 games.
In other news, Rio Ferdinand has said that United would do well to sign Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez.
The Red Devils have been linked with a move for the midfielder in recent days, as a potential replacement for Paul Pogba.