Man United out of Haaland running as Real Madrid emerge as favourites

The Sunday Mail

Manchester United are out of the race to sign Erling Haaland, sources told ESPN, with the club ready to focus on alternative attacking options having been made aware the Borussia Dortmund forward favours a summer move to Real Madrid.

Haaland, 21, is expected to leave Dortmund at the end of the season due to a €75 million release clause becoming active in his contract at the Bundesliga club this summer.

United failed to sign Haaland from FC Salzburg when he moved to Dortmund in January 2020, despite the club maintaining a long standing interest dating back to his emergence as a 16-year-old at Molde in Norway. Sources told ESPN that senior figures at Old Trafford believe that Haaland is destined for Real this summer and that United are not in a position to convince the player or his advisors to reconsider his options.

With Edinson Cavani out of contract and likely to leave at the end of the season and Cristiano Ronaldo 37 next month, United are focusing on other options to solve their search for a proven goalscorer.

ESPN reported in December that Real are attempting to sign both Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe this summer, although the LaLiga champions face strong competition from Manchester City for Haaland, who will command wages of £30m-a-year at whichever club he decides to join.

But despite City’s interest and ability to compete with any financial package presented to Haaland by Real, the Premier League champions lag behind favourites Real in the battle to sign the Norway international.

The turmoil at Old Trafford has severely damaged United’s prospects of signing Haaland, although sources have said that the dismissal of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager in November — Solskjaer gave Haaland his debut at Molde — has not contributed to their diminishing hopes.

Sources said that although the Haaland camp are admirers of the work done by United interim manager Ralf Rangnick at previous clubs, the prospect of signing for United while they remain in a period of transition, and potentially out of the Champions League, has made the 20-time English champions an unappealing proposition considering the other teams in the race to sign Haaland.

United know that Haaland does not see them as a viable option in the present circumstances and are focusing on the recruitment of a permanent manager rather than devoting time to the pursuit of a player who favours a move elsewhere. – ESPN