MANCHESTER UNITED will reportedly make a quick decision on whether or not they’ll sign Erling Haaland in order to avoid a repeat of the Jadon Sancho saga of last summer.
The Red Devils still hold an interest in landing the prolific Borussia Dortmund hitman, despite being snubbed by the Norwegian and his agent – Mino Raiola – in December 2019.
But unlike their ill-fated pursuit of Sancho in 2020, the United brass will be ‘urged to assess whether Haaland is a viable option’ as soon as possible.
That’s according to The Athletic, who claim Old Trafford chiefs want to know if the 20-year-old will be out of their price range in order to identify alternative targets.
United were left scrambling to sign a winger last summer after Dortmund refused to budge on their £104million valuation of England international Sancho.
The Red Devils ended up signing 18-year-old Amad Diallo on transfer deadline day after it became apparent they wouldn’t be able to land Sancho.
Haaland is United’s top priority this summer, although they’re also thought to be interested in signing Tottenham striker Harry Kane.
Haaland has been in red-hot form since joining Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg, scoring a whopping 49 goals and providing 13 assists in 52 appearances for the Bundesliga giants.
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And his stunning output has convinced Raiola he was ‘too careful’ with his decision not to move him on to one of Europe’s big boys.
He told The Athletic: “With Haaland, everybody was wrong. He did things much quicker than everybody imagined.
“‘Haaland is in front of his own development. He is ahead of his own schedule.
“Maybe I was too careful when I said, ‘Oh no, let’s move to Dortmund instead of I-don’t-know-where.'”
“This boy — I’m 100 per cent convinced and everybody’s convinced — can move to any club, wherever he wants, already on this level. And he could have done that last year.
“But maybe last year there were still teams (saying), ‘Oh, he was in Red Bull [Salzburg], can he do it in another club?’.
“He is quicker than his own prediction. So yeah, Haaland is the talk of the town.”
Haaland and his Dortmund team-mates will be back in action on Wednesday night, welcoming Manchester City to the Westfalenstadion for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
