Speaking on The Phil Hay Show, football agent Hayden Evans has detailed how close Erling Haaland actually came to joining Leeds United.
It’s no secret that the Norwegian is a boyhood Leeds fan. He was born in west Yorkshire during his father’s time as a player at Elland Road and he’s previously opened up on his desire to join United.
However, it sounds as though a deal to bring Haaland to Elland Road was actually much closer than we ever imagined as Evans says he even visited the training ground.
What’s been said?
Evans shared just how close Haaland came to joining Leeds.
“We took him to meet Victor and Victor did the usual, they already had the shirt made up with Haaland on the back,” Evans said.
“What was impressive about them at the time was he said, ‘look, let’s go to the training ground, that’s what the boy wants to see, Elland Road’s Elland Road, he loves it as a Leeds United fan but as a footballer, we want to talk football’.
“They were in the middle of a first-team session and Christiansen had stopped the session and came over to Erling and hugged him, talked about football and all the rest of it.
“That went really well and Christiansen was impressive, frankly.”
“We said ‘Erling, you know, let these guys sort everything out and we’ll see you in two weeks’ time.”
“I think they wanted around £4m, but, quite rightly in a way, Leeds weren’t in that stable position they’re in now and even with the talent he is, he was not going to play first-team football at that age so it was seen as a step too far at that time.”
Biggest mistake ever
This may well go down as the biggest mistake Leeds United have ever made.
£4m, Leeds could have had arguably the best striker in the world for just £4m, but they turned him down.
Yes, it would have been a financial gamble, but it would have paid off in almighty fashion.
Haaland is now one of world football’s biggest talents, he was last season’s Champions League top scorer and he’s undeniably a generational talent.
We can only wonder where Leeds would be now if they had signed Haaland.
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