Borussia Dortmund chief, Hans-Joachim Watzke has revealed how Manchester United came close to signing Erling Haaland in January 2020.
Haaland was set to leave Red Bull Salzburg and then-United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer thought he had wrapped up a deal for a player he knew well from their time at Molde.
Watzke has confirmed that ex-United executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward pulled out of the deal because of Mino Raiola's agent fee and a refusal to insert a release clause in the Norwegian's contract.
That allowed Dortmund to swoop in and sign the 21-year-old.
Watzke told 19:09 Talk: "We gave Erling Haaland a release clause... otherwise he would have gone to Manchester United."
Having failed in their efforts to sign Haaland, United ended up bringing in Odion Ighalo on loan from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua.
After scoring 82 goals in 86 appearances during two-and-a-half seasons with Dortmund, Haaland could be set to join Manchester City.
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