Ole Gunnar Solskjaer called Manchester United in 2017 to recommend Manchester City forward Erling Haaland whilst he was playing for Molde.
Solskjaer was the manager of Norwegian side Molde when young talent Haaland was starting his career.
Haaland swiftly earned a move to RB Salzburg, before joining Borussia Dortmund and then Manchester City, but his career could have gone down a different path if Manchester United took some advice from one of their former players.
“He had been with us seven or eight months, he was training really hard and he had become part of the squad. I walked down to see Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was Molde’s manager, and I said, ‘You have to call Manchester United, mate – this is unreal what we are looking at,” said former Molde scout John Vik, speaking to The Athletic.
The early signs were there for Haaland. Molde understood they were going to struggle to keep hold of the young striker, so actively looking to offload him to a big club, in order to receive as much money as possible, appeared to be Molde’s priority.
“Ole agreed with absolutely everything. ‘I will put a phone call in’, he said, ‘they need to hear about this kid’. We had friends at United,” added Vik.
Unfortunately for Manchester United, they didn’t decide to pursue Haaland, who is now flourishing at their bitter rivals Manchester City.
Haaland is now one of the most valuable young players in the world, so I’m sure there is a little regret from Manchester United about not taking the advice of their former player.