Not once, but twice, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has tried to get the club he actually still loves to bring in Erling Braut Haaland. – The first time while he was head coach of Molde, but then he failed to capture the interest of the bosses at Old Trafford and the second time, when he himself was manager, but completely overlooked in everything related to buying and selling.
Manchester City, who played large parts of the game with 10 men due to a red card for Phil Foden, won 0 – 1 with a goal by Erling Haaland that half of Manchester believe was offside. Haaland is at the top of the Premier League’s top scorers list with 10 goals.
We all know Erling Braut Haaland is not a torrent of words.
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It is neither Erling Haaland, nor his people who stood in the way of a transfer to Manchester United, strangely the fans blame him, when everyone knows it should be placed elsewhere.
There wasn’t much heat to be found when Erling Haaland arrived at Old Trafford on Sunday. – The Manchester City striker was greeted by a massive group of Manchester United fans who booed as he got off the team bus before the Manchester derby.
Haaland looked amazed at the reaction. And a few seconds later, the sensational reaction came.
“Why me?”
Video footage from the stadium shows Haaland looking over at an employee who was standing at the entrance to Old Trafford.
The Norwegian striker then asked a short question:
“Why me?”
The reaction quickly went viral on social media, with Manchester United fans and other football supporters discussing Haaland’s reaction.
One fan wrote, among other things, that Haaland grinned at the United fans’ booing.
Another stood on the Norwegian’s side and asked:
“Why did they actually boo him?”
It is a rather special story between Haaland and Manchester United that makes the meeting extra interesting.
Haaland was close to Manchester United
Haaland could very well have been a Manchester United player.
The Norwegian striker was on United’s radar before moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2020.
At the time, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the manager of Manchester United.
The Norwegian knew Haaland from their time together at Molde, and Solskjaer was reportedly very keen to get the striker to Old Trafford.
Haaland himself had great respect for his former coach.
In 2019, he told TV 2:
“He has had a huge influence on my life, both as a person and as a coach.
“He won the Champions League and was an incredibly good player. He has taught me a lot.
But a move to Manchester United never came to fruition.
Why Haaland didn’t end up at United
Manchester United were a little interested in Haaland, but not enough to buy him out of his contract. The buyout clause was a measly 60 million euros. Small change for the world’s most valuable player. Transfermarkt thinks he is worth 220 million euros.
One of the disagreements concerned a buyout clause.
Manchester United’s then deputy chairman Ed Woodward is said to have been reluctant to accept such a clause.
Instead, it paved the way for Borussia Dortmund.
Dortmund agreed to include a buyout clause in the deal, and Haaland therefore ended up in the Bundesliga.
Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has since confirmed how close United were to securing the striker.
“We gave Erling Haaland a buyout clause … otherwise he would have gone to Manchester United,” Watzke has explained.
And then he ended up at City
Manchester United thus missed out on Haaland.
After his stay at Dortmund, the Norwegian moved to Manchester City, where he has since developed into one of the world’s most feared strikers.
Thus, it was never Old Trafford that became Haaland’s home ground.
Instead, he now stands on the other side of the Manchester rivalry.
And on Sunday, he got another reminder that United fans have certainly not forgotten that their club was once close to signing him.
When Haaland got off the bus and heard the booing, his brief reaction was therefore perhaps the most interesting part of the whole reception:
“Why me?”
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There are only two clubs that have a full pot after four Premier League rounds. – Arsenal and Manchester City. Manchester United still have 4 points down in 13th place.
