Details emerge of ‘mega offer’ Man Utd saw rejected for Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland

Manchester United’s failure to sign Erling Haaland in the January window has been well documented – but now details of the huge transfer package they proposed to his former side RB Salzburg have revealed for the first time.

The Norwegian’s transfer saga was one of the most compelling chapters in the January transfer window.

Despite persistent and intense interest from Manchester United, the 19-year-old made the decision to switch Austria for Germany and sign on the dotted line for Dortmund.

That decision appears to have been vindicated in just a few short weeks, with Haaland notching an incredible 12 goals in eight games for his new club to make it 40 from 30 in all competitions this season and leading to ridiculous claims that Haaland will be the subject of a ‘money-no-object’ approach from Real Madrid this summer.

However, United’s failure to land Haaland was not through a want of trying and SportBild [via Sport Witnesshave now stated that Red Bull Salzburg received a ‘mega-offer’ from the Red Devils ahead of the January window.

As per the German outlet, United made a bid of €60m to Salzburg, which included the €20m release clause in his contract with the Austrians and a further ‘inducement’ of €40m to try and convince the player to move to Old Trafford.

In addition, United were prepared to pay Haaland a handsome salary and one that would surely have dwarved the package he’s earning at the Westfallonstadion.

The report quotes Salzburg sporting director Christoph Freund as saying United were “very interested” and adds that, had Haaland’s move come down purely to money, he would have been destined to move to Old Trafford.

 

 

As it was, Haaland was instead convinced to sign for Lucien Favre’s side due to the ‘sporting project on offer’ with Freund left to say of the Bundesliga side’s approach: “From Dortmund, Michael Zorc was the first to contact us. However, there had already been discussions between BVB and Erling’s consultants.

“Many clubs were interested, but Dortmund probably had the best arguments. BVB was looking for exactly this type of player for this position. And as you can see, it was a good decision.”

The Red Devils eventually landed Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo late on deadline day instead, but with his deal only a six-month loan, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will need to re-address his striking conundrum in future windows.

And while a move for Haaland won’t happen now, the Norwegian will continually be known as the one that got away for United and Solskjaer.