Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals how close Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham came to joining Manchester United

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed the lengths he went to in trying to sign Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham at Manchester United.

The united legend He took charge at Old Trafford at the end of 2018 before being given the job permanently a few months later until 2022.

Before that, he enjoyed a period in charge of Mold in his homeland, where he trained a certain budding superstar, Haalandmanaging it before signing for RB Salzburg in 2019.

However, Solskjaer has revealed that he tried to convince United to sign the then 19-year-old before moving to Austriasince he could predict how big a star he would become.

“I had him (Haaland) in Molde, for two seasons more or less,” he told Stay with football podcast. “The summer before I came here (to Manchester), I called the club and said: 'You've got to sign this guy. He's going to be absolutely first class.'

“That was June, July 2018 and they said no. They had enough reports (on the players) so, 'Okay, no problem.' Then I became interim coach and we (Molde) sold Haaland to RB Salzburg.

“I tell the club: 'Buy him immediately, before he plays,' because he didn't play for them for three or four months. 'Just sign him now because he has a release clause.' We knew it then and no one else would have paid that money: 20 million euros would have been a bargain.

“So it was the club's decision not to bet on him. We never bid or bet on him, until they realized that he started scoring for Salzburg.

“But then Borussia Dortmund they were there, Juventus They were there, everyone was there. “It was another termination clause that wasn't bad, 60 million euros.”

Bellingham He was also establishing himself as one of the best in the world during this period, and the 17-year-old proved to be a class above in Birmingham City – and was another promising star on United's radar.

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Fernando River previously revealed that the midfielder was not given a key assurance When speaking to United, Solskjaer now backs this claim.

“Jude was in the building,” he confirmed. “You can't ask for much more from a midfielder, I was there obviously as a coach.”

“Sir Alex (Ferguson) was there, Roy (Keane) should have been there, Bryan Robson and Eric Cantona They were all there that day he came to the club.

“We all talked to him and sold it as best he could. But he knew what he wanted, X amount of minutes in the first team.

“I was 17 at the time and the most mature 17-year-old I've ever met in my life; he had it all planned out.”

Solskjaer was unable to convince the club to secure the two talents, and United probably looked back and regretted their failed attempts.

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Haaland and Bellingham made 63 appearances together for Dortmund as the duo continued their impressive rises.

After two and a half seasons in GermanyHaaland completed his move to city ​​of manchester and won a historic treble in his first season, scoring an incredible 52 goals along the way.

Bellingham stayed at Dortmund for one more season and is now in real Madridwhere he seems on track to win LaLiga and potentially the Champions League at only 20 years old.