Leeds could have signed Erling Haaland for €4.6m in 2017

Karan Tejwani

• 10 Sept 2022 21:05 BST
• 3 min read

Erling Haaland has had a flying start to life in England, scoring 10 goals in six Premier League matches as well as a double on his Champions League debut for Manchester City.

The Norwegian made the move from Borussia Dortmund this year in one of the most highly-anticipated moves of the summer, and he has backed it up with a fine start.

Several clubs across Europe such as Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain were interested, but he picked Pep Guardiola’s side.

However, things could’ve been much more different for him had Leeds United been in a better position at a time when he was finding his feet in the game.

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Haaland could've been at Leeds

Haaland has always had an admiration for Leeds United – he was born in the city when his father played for them – and has reportedly kept an eye on their progress in recent times.

Now, it’s been revealed that Leeds United had the chance to sign him when Haaland was an emerging teenager for a low fee, but it was out of Leeds’ remit.

Agent Hayden Evans told the Phil Hay Show: “He was at Molde, around about 17 [years old], and he was ripping it up but also fervently following Leeds United.”

“We spoke to Victor [Orta, Leeds’ sporting director] and said, ‘Look, I can bring Erling to Leeds and the rest will be over to you.”

Leeds weren’t in a position to complete the transfer, and spending that much money on a player who wasn’t even a senior footballer wouldn’t have made sense for them at the time.

As a result, Haaland ended up staying at Molde and continued his development at the Norwegian club, before becoming a world-renowned star.

Evans continued on the podcast: “It went quite well, we went back, but the bottom line was that [Molde] wanted around four million pounds.

“Leeds were not in the stable [financial] position they are in now and he was not going to play, even the talent he was, he was not going to play first-team football at that age.”

After Molde, Haaland went to Red Bull Salzburg in Austria in 2019 where he made a big impact, before his move to the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund, that set up his Manchester City transfer.