Michael Owen believes Erling Haaland would be a transformative signing for Manchester United.
The Norway international is one of the most in-demand players in world football, with United, Barcelona and Real Madrid among the clubs linked.
Haaland has scored 19 goals in 16 appearances in all competitions for Borussia Dortmund this season, and Owen believes he could be United’s long-term answer at centre-forward.
“If you look at the recent past of Manchester United, they have been buying a lot of players that have been coming to the twilight of their career – when you look at [Edinson] Cavani, before that [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, before that [Robin] Van Persie, Henrik Larsson,” he told Stadium Astro.
They have gone for players right at the end of their career. The last one they bought early on in their career is Wayne Rooney. At least then you have got a player that is going to last you for 10 years.
“At the moment, Manchester United have struggled to find that young player that is going to take them all the way as a No 9. I think the one player out there that springs to mind, a player that could be in their team for 10 years and stop them having to buy stop-gaps all the time, is Haaland at Dortmund. He is the player on everybody’s lips at the moment.”
According to AS, Real Madrid are confident they will win the race for Haaland.
Dortmund are said to be keen to hold onto the striker until the summer of 2022, when they will begin to listen to offers.
And the Spanish outlet write that Haaland favours a move to Madrid, having idolised Cristiano Ronaldo when he was growing up.
With Karim Benzema out of contract in 2022, Madrid are expected to make a move for Haaland in 18 months’ time.
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