'Haaland told me he was going to join Leeds'
Cameron Smith
- Updated: 4 Jan 2023 08:54 GMT
- 3 min read
Liverpool veteran James Milner has revealed that Norwegian forward Erling Haaland told him that he would sign for Leeds United before joining Manchester City.
Haaland, 22, was born in Leeds as his father was playing for the Elland Road club at the time, and was heavily linked with a move to the club before making the switch to Man City.
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The Molde academy graduate joined RB Salzburg from his boyhood club in 2018, and it was in Austria that he began his journey to stardom.
Haaland bagged a hat-trick for Salzburg on his Champions League debut, before scoring in both legs against Liverpool in the group stages of the competition.
During that game, Haaland and Milner interacted and according to the Englishman, Haaland told him that a move to Leeds was on the cards before he ended up at Man City.
Milner came through the Leeds academy and made his first-team debut at just 16, but now plies his trade for Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool.
Speaking to ViaPlay after playing 90 minutes at right-back in Liverpool's 1-0 win over Manchester City in the Premier League, Milner was asked about and Haaland and said: "I can confirm that he said he was going to sign for Leeds a few years ago when we played against him. He was obviously lying, so that’s disappointing." Milner also confirmed that the pair had "a little chat [about Leeds]" in their latest meeting.
Haaland to Leeds?
Before he left Norway as a youngster, Haaland told Aftenposten: "I want to be the best possible. The dream is to win the Premier League with Leeds."
So, the striker certainly has ambitions to join the team his father played for when he was born.
However, with his affiliation with Man City also strong due to his father's connection with the blue half of Manchester, a move to Elland Road in the immediate future seems unrealistic.
