Manchester City star Erling Haaland, despite his tender years, showed he knows a thing or two about loyalty. Before taking a photo with a young Manchester United fan, the sensational striker made sure he covered the club\u2019s badge on the fan\u2019s shirt before telling him to get a different shirt.<\/p>\n
In his homeland on international duty, the young star scored twice for Norway as they saw off Cyprus on Tuesday night. The young star is immensely popular even with those who support the team on the opposing half of Manchester.<\/p>\n
Having earned himself legendary status at the Etihad after a record-breaking debut year, Haaland smashed key Premier League\u00a0milestones en route to picking up three trophies in his first year, including the elusive Champions League. The wunderkind with the infectious grin on his boyish face struck a deeper chord with his City fans when he made his loyalties known as he took a photo with a young fan donning the red shirt, covering up the badge with his hand as he smiled.<\/p>\n
Then, as he walked away, Haaland also joked in his native tongue that the supporter needed to “get a new shirt”. The Premier League\u2019s most impressive forward had a stellar time playing against United this term, scoring a hat-trick in his first ever Manchester derby as City put the sword to their bitter rivals at the Etihad. He also helped Pep Guardiola’s side win the FA Cup against their crosstown neighbors at Wembley.<\/p>\n
Ironically, had things taken a different turn, Haaland could be wearing Manchester red now instead of blue. City moved like greased lightning to sign the striker from Borussia Dortmund last summer, yet former United gaffer and legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer \u2013 who was at Molde with Haaland \u2013 had earlier in the lad\u2019s career recommended urgently to United that they sign the player. When the Norwegian manager later later subsequently ended up in charge at Old Trafford and when it became clear Haaland would be on the move, said on speculation: “He [Haaland] knows what he wants to do and he knows what he’s gonna do. So I don’t have to give any advice to any other teams’ players.”<\/p>\n
Haaland however clearly opted to move to the Bundesliga, where he continued to thrive, and his former agent, Mino Raiola, failed to grasp why there was so much fuss regarding a switch to Old Trafford. The since deceased agent told Sky Sports: “People say that Manchester United wanted to be out [of the deal], I don’t believe in it, if so it’s very strange in my opinion. I think were was good contact between Norwegian Ole Solskjaer and himself as they know each other very well, it was just a normal decision from the player that at this moment he had a better feeling to sign for Dortmund and that it would be the right move fo his career.<\/p>\n
“I don’t understand all the fuss, why people are talking so much about Manchester United when there was 12 clubs interested in him and he had serious talks with every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"