Liverpool and Manchester United were linked with Erling Braut Haaland.
Haaland joined Borussia Dortmund from RB Salzburg in the January transfer window for a fee reported by The Liverpool Echo to be worth £17 million.
The Liverpool Echo has claimed that Manchester United wanted to sign the striker before his move to Dortmund, while The Daily Star credited Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur with interest in the 19-year-old.
Liverpool manager Klopp has explained why the Reds and the Red Devils could not have signed the Norway international striker last month.
Klopp told The Liverpool Echo: “Dortmund needed a striker. Everybody blames Man United for not getting him, but we wouldn’t have got him. We couldn’t have got him. It’s as easy as that.
“He wanted a top team, as soon as possible, with an open space… Borussia Dortmund. That’s timing.
“I hope you know how much I love and respect the people at Dortmund, but it’s not that they made a perfect approach and did this and that, it was more they were there, had the space, number nine… ‘here we go, you are 19 years old, want to play Champions League, top end of Bundesliga, so go for it’. Nobody else had a chance, I’m pretty sure, no matter what they say.”
Stats
Haaland has hit the ground running at Dortmund and has been among the goals already, as the teenage striker continues to show why he is rated so highly.
The teenager has scored eight goals in five Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund and has scored twice in one Champions League game for the German club, according to WhoScored.
The striker scored 16 goals in the league for Salzburg before his January move to Dortmund, according to WhoScored.
Dortmund are third in the Bundesliga table at the moment with 42 points from 22 matches, seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who have played 23 games.
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