Haaland’s father compares Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund

Alf-Inge Haaland has drawn comparisons between Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund while discussing the future of his son.

Manchester United fell short in their attempt to land Erling Haaland in the last January transfer window. After months of speculations regarding the Norwegian’s apparent arrival at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’, the striker chose to join the German club Borussia Dortmund instead.

To the bare eyes, one could still believe that Dortmund had to trigger only Erling Haaland’s release clause of €20 million. But the inside story is something else and even more fascinating.

To lure the teenage sensation, the Bundesliga side first had to pay his agent Mino Raiola and his father Alf-Inge Haaland a sum of €10 million each as an adequate commission, a report from Spanish outlet MARCA reveals.

On the other hand, as per the very reliable Fabrizio Romano, Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, had a personal jet prepared for the arrival of Haaland last January.

Nevertheless, the Red Devils to refused to put a release clause in his contract and paying the player’s entourage a hefty sum of money as commission. As a result, the move fell through and Dortmund got their man.

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Speaking to German media outlet Sport1, Haaland’s father said:

"“Manchester United have achieved great success in recent years.“The club is also trying to build something new there. But to draw this comparison now is not so easy because he [Erling] is already playing in Dortmund.“These are two very traditional clubs with a large fan base and a glorious history. Man United is a very proud club, just like Dortmund in Germany.“I don’t think the bosses need to be clearer. You take good care of him and are very happy with his performance. He can play almost every week and thanks him with many goals for the team. Is there anything more beautiful? So he’s fine. We don’t have to discuss this in the media.“He is happy to be in Dortmund and to play for this club. There are so many nice people there and it really is a fantastic club.”"

Since joining Dortmund, Haaland has kept finding the back of the net, having scored 27 goals and provided 6 assists in just 29 appearances across all competitions for the German club. And that kind of form is bound to attract the attention of clubs all around Europe.

The Norwegian international has a buyout clause of €75m in his current Borussia Dortmund contract that will go into effect in 2022 although his current contract is set to expire in June 2024. And if he continues to score goals for fun like he has over the past couple of seasons, then United should not think twice before paying that fee for his services.