Winners and losers from Erling Haaland’s transfer to Borussia Dortmund

Loser: Manchester United

Manchester United were the first club to be linked with a move for Haaland. Some journalists even suggested that this was as good as a done deal, and the Norwegian international was certain to move to Old Trafford in January.

Weeks went by, Manchester United kept scouting him and talking him up. Head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had a previous relationship with him, and he took a private jet to fly to Salzburg to convince him to join Manchester United. Ultimately, Haaland rejected them in favour of a move to Borussia Dortmund.

Now heartbroken, Manchester United are sending out briefings claiming that they weren’t rejected by Haaland. Instead, it is being reported that United pulled out of the race for Haaland because they suddenly didn’t want to deal with his agent.

Manchester United have one of the biggest wage bills in world football, constantly overpay for average players, and now they expect us to believe that they scouted him for months before dropping out of the race for him at the last moment because they were unwilling to meet Mino Raiola’s demands?

Borussia Dortmund have vowed not to put release clauses in the contracts of any of their players post-Götze. And there is absolutely zero chance that they would have changed that for Haaland. Mino Raiola has already dismissed the claims being made by the English media, and has confirmed that Haaland snubbed Manchester United.

So just accept that Haaland rejected you, take your L and move on, Manchester United.