Former star calls out Man Utd for making major Erling Haaland error

Erling Haaland

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince believes the club made a major error in letting Erling Haaland slip through their fingers.

Ince, who represented both United and runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool in his playing days, has been impressed with Haaland – with the 19-year-old scoring 40 goals in 33 appearances this season, 28 of those coming in a Red Bull Salzburg shirt.

The Norwegian has continued his stunning form upon moving to Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund, plundering 12 goals in 11 matches, and Ince believes that the United board will regret not paying £17million to sign the striker in January.

“If they want to close the gap on Manchester City and Liverpool then they need a world-class striker,” Ince told Goal.

“They had the chance with Haaland, the young kid who went to Dortmund, that was sad really. He is a very, very good player who can improve and you can’t let people like that slip through the net.’

The Leeds-born marksman has also set a record of scoring 10 Champions League goals in just seven matches, although that tally failed to ge Dortmund through to the last eight of the competition as they were beaten by PSG.

Meanwhile at United, Anthony Martial has scored 16 goals in 34 appearances and Mason Greenwood has registered an impressive 14 goals in 38 matches.

The injured Marcus Rashford has the best return, however, with 19 goals in 31 games. However, Ince maintains that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should have been allowed to sign his former Molde striker.

Ince added: “That was disappointing that they couldn’t get him. They have got to have someone in who gets 20-25 goals a season.

“There are players who Ole will still feel should not be there next year. There will be more players leaving and more coming in. I think you have to get the right balance.”

 

Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been holding Nemanja Matic and Aaron Wan-Bissaka back for extra training sessions, according to a report.

Manchester United announced earlier this week that training at Carrington had been cancelled on government advice due to the outbreak of coronavirus, making them one of the last Premier League clubs to suspend group training.

Before that decision was taken, Solskjaer was demanding something extra from two high-profile players, with The Athletic revealing that Matic and Wan-Bissaka had been asked to stay behind for extra 30-minute sessions. Read more…