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Former chief scout at Molde, John Vik, has recalled the moment he saw Erling Haaland during training and realised the potential he had and has suggested that top Premier League clubs missed out on the striker.
Haaland was at Molde between 2017 and 2019 before he eventually left for Austrian side RB Salzburg, but at that time, Vik has admitted that he and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who was the Molde boss tried to alert Manchester United to his potential.
He told The Athletic: 'I remember one day when I was watching Erling train. 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."
Erling Haaland (left) played under ex-Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (right)
'Me and Ole understood that this kid was so good we were not going to be able to keep him. 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. I used to work closely with United, in the early 2000s, and most of the guys I knew had gone. But Ole was Ole. "For God's sake", I said, "call Nicky Butt (then United's head of academy), or call somebody, because this kid is".
'This was even before Erling had really started to play for Molde properly. Ole put the phone call in. So the name was put in. Then, how or whether United followed it up, I don't know.'
United did not follow through a complete a transfer to sign Haaland, as he went to Salzburg and then Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund where he proved he could make the step up, and now he is starring in the Premier League with Manchester City following a summer switch worth £51million.
