Manchester United intends to advance the planned transfer move on teenage sensation Erling Haaland. The English club has decided to make an offer in January, pushing forward on its earlier purpose to sign up Haaland summer of next year. Presently, the19-year-old striker plays for Red Bull Salzburg.
According to Metro, the contract that is being lined up for consideration by the Haaland camp will be no less than £60 million, and the figures indicated how serious the Red Devils are into convincing the youngster to leave Austria for the Premier League.
The haste on the part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United's team manager, seemed understandable. Haaland is currently one of the hottest players in Europe and reports said giant teams like Bayern Munich, Juventus, and Real Madrid have been actively scouting the Red Bull striker and looking for ways to acquire him the soonest.
Likewise, it is understood that United's Premier League rival, Manchester City, has joined the race to secure the signature of the young Norwegian.
The scrambling by the clubs mentioned was further heightened as the teenager continues to make waves. In the season alone, Haaland has already scored 26 goals in a total of 18 appearances.
It appeared that United's pursuit of hiring Haaland will be met with stiff competition coming from City. Per the same report from Metro, Alf-Inge, father of the teenage footballer, has already met with executives of Manchester City.
Supposedly, the two parties have initiated discussions on the matter when Alf-Inge was invited to watch a Champions League match at the Etihad last October. There was no mention though on how the talks have been progressing so far.
Notwithstanding the advantage that City is said to enjoy now, United seemed convinced that Haaland will pick the Old Trafford when makes the jump from Austria to England. This belief was further bolstered by the latest revelation from Red Bull Salzburg sporting director Christoph Freund.
The Mirror reported that Freund dismissed the speculations that Salzburg's sister team, the Red Bull Leipzig, had a clause to buy Haaland for just £25.7 million.
"There is no such clause, that is not an issue for us. We would never own any club a right of advance to any player. That was not the case in the past and will not be the case in the future," the Salzburg executive was reported as saying.
The statement from Freund was in reaction to German reports that Leipzig has a locked on Haaland and that United or any other interested team will need to pay the high price of signing up the Red Bull striker.
