Mino Raiola Urges Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to Ignore Erling Haaland & Focus on Paul Pogba
By Tom Gott
Agent Mino Raiola has criticised Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's recent praise of Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland, insisting his focus should be on getting the best out of Paul Pogba instead.
United have been heavily linked with a move for Haaland for the last 12 months, with Solskjaer often speaking highly of the young forward, with whom he worked during his time as manager of Norwegian side Molde.
Amid United's struggle for goals, interesting to discover whom Solskjaer likened Erling Haaland to when #mufc scouted him at Molde over a year ago: 'He can become a top striker for sure. He reminds me of the type of striker Lukaku is.'
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) September 23, 2019
Solskjaer, who compared Haaland to former United man Romelu Lukaku back in 2018, continued to praise the Norwegian last week, admitting (via Goal) that he was 'proud' to have played even a small role in the development of such an exciting forward, but Raiola was not in the mood to humour the boss' comments.
“Haaland is like Ibra when he was 20," Raiola told Tuttosport (via Fabrizio Romano). "Solskjaer is a good guy but he was wrong when he said that Erling is like Lukaku. It would be better if Solskjaer thought about finding a way to make Pogba play like a champion, instead of talking about Haaland.
“Haaland is like a painting, he is like Munch's Scream because he causes fear in the defenders. He called me after being substituted after 85 minutes against Hertha: he had scored 4 goals, he wanted to score another. He was furious! He wants to be the best even if he’s playing checkers.
“I can’t talk about Haaland's release clause. Rumours say Real Madrid want him? That is not new to me...but he is very happy with Borussia Dortmund. Erling wants to win the Champions League. When he’ll leave the club, it will be for his ambition and not for money."
United still remain linked with Haaland, who is on the radar of most of Europe's biggest sides after scoring 33 goals in his first 32 games with Dortmund.
Real Madrid have long been seen as favourites to sign Haaland, with countless reports suggesting a 2021 move to the Santiago Bernabeu could be on the cards for the Norwegian, although Real may be forced to abandon their pursuit of Haaland in favour of a huge move for PSG's Kylian Mbappe.
Raiola's comments came shortly after he claimed that Pogba had drown tired of life at Old Trafford and was keen to leave the club in the near future.
The agent urged United to sell Pogba next summer, when he will enter the final year of his contract, and he suggested that a return to former employers Juventus was something Pogba would consider if the offer arrived.