Ole Gunnar Solskjaer vowed Manchester United will conduct their transfer business in “the right way” as he refused to discuss a possible move for Erling Haaland.
Borussia Dortmund striker Haaland is a player coveted by a host of European giants, with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City thought to have looked at the 20-year-old Norway international.
His father, former Leeds United and Manchester City player Alf-Inge Haaland, and agent Mino Raiola arrived in Spain on Thursday and reportedly headed for talks with new Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
There were also claims that Haaland senior and Raiola held discussions with senior Real Madrid officials on the same day. Dortmund director Michael Zorc said the Bundesliga club had “made our intentions very clear” to Raiola, which was generally taken to mean that Haaland will not be allowed to leave on the cheap this year, if at all.
Solskjaer would surely love to bring compatriot Haaland to United, having previously coached him at Molde, but he is not prepared to allow such club business to carry on in the public eye.
“There’s only so many places that a player can go to and for us, we want to focus on the ones who are here,” Solskjaer said. “I’ve worked with Erling, but it’s not right for me to talk about him. I can talk about him as an ex-coach of his, but he will make his own mind up.
“Who we’re in for and who we will go for, I’m not going to comment on that.”
Since leaving Salzburg to join Dortmund in mid-season during the 2019-20 campaign, Haaland has scored 49 goals in 49 games across all competitions at club level, including 33 in 31 appearances this term.
Only Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski (67) and Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo (55) have scored more club goals among players from Europe’s top five leagues during the same 15-month period.
Among players with at least 25 goals in that time, only one has beaten Haaland’s big chance conversion rate of 62.5 per cent.
