UNITED FRONT
Mino Raiola insists Erling Haaland never wanted Man Utd transfer as agent looks to make peace with club
Sponsored by
MINO RAIOLA wants to make peace not war with Manchester United.
The super–agent is upset that fingers have been pointed at him from within Old Trafford over the deal that took whizkid Erling Haaland, 19, to Borussia Dortmund.
3
3
MAN UTD NEWS LIVE: Follow for all the latest on the Red Devils
But he does not want to burn bridges with United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward or boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Not with the future of Paul Pogba — who he also represents — on the line.
And not, as he has hinted, with the possibility Haaland may still go to United down the line.
Raiola stressed: “I don’t understand why in England there is such a buzz about why he has chosen Dortmund.
“He is a young player and has all the time to come to the Premier League and we hope there will be a time.
“He didn’t feel it was the time.
“Borussia Dortmund is a fantastic club and the best move for his development at this point.”
United had believed Haaland felt the time was right for him to move to the Prem and that Raiola could get their man.
Just ten days before Haaland switched from RB Salzburg to the Germans for £18.5million, United thought they had him.
Solskjaer had travelled to meet Haaland’s camp on December 13.
That was three days after United’s head of global scouting, Marcel Bout, watched the striker play for Salzburg in a 2–0 Champions League defeat to Liverpool.
But United pulled out of the deal as they would not agree to a sell–on clause that would have given the agent control of any future transfer fee if he left United.
Sources close to the club said the arrangement would have been “bad for the industry”.
Yet Raiola vows he bent over backward to help get Solskjaer’s fellow Norwegian to the Theatre of Dreams. He claimed: “The club he had the most direct contact with was Manchester United.
“We let that happen, especially when he knows Ole.
“I do not know if Manchester United are briefing this.
“But if they are then they are covering their own loss and that I find disappointing.”
Even so Raiola, at the centre of discussions about whether Pogba will leave or stay at Old Trafford, moved to pour oil on troubled waters.
Man United pulled out of Erling Haaland deal after refusing to be held to ransom by Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola
Manchester United transfer news
He insisted: “There is nothing against Manchester United or Ole. Haaland chose Borussia Dortmund.
“If he wanted to go to Manchester United I would have been obliged to take him to Manchester United — but he did not.
“Everyone is speaking about Manchester United but there were 12 clubs interested in him.
“We had serious talks with everybody.”
3
Topics