Manchester United emerge as favourites to sign teenage sensation Erling Braut Haaland

Manchester United emerge as the bookies’ favourites to sign RB Salzburg’s teenage sensation Erling Braut Haaland in the January transfer window.

The Norwegian striker has already scored an incredible tally of 22 goals this season and has been reportedly said to be available for around the £35m mark.

The Red Devils are not the only club interested in the 19-year-old’s services as the likes of Juventus and Barcelona have entered the running.

With the exits of both Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan in the summer, it is reported that Ed Woodward and United’s scouts have identified Haaland as an adequate replacement.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is currently craving a striker as only Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial able to play on a regular basis with teenager Mason Greenwood promoted to the first-team for minutes as the leading man.

Rashford has come in for heavy criticism over the season and has been, for the most part, unable to replicate the goal tally that Lukaku has. Martial has been unavailable for most of the season and the combination of these two meant United have struggled up-front so far.

In the Premier League, the Red Devils have only scored 13 goals in 10 games – rivals Liverpool and Chelsea have 10 goals in more whereas Manchester City have 32 goals.

The lack of goals have been a huge issue for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side which Erling Braut Haaland could easily help fix. The teenager has already worked under Solskjaer when the duo were at Molde where the Norwegian manager promoted the youngster into the first-team.

Odds for Erling Braut Haaland’s Next Club

2/1- Manchester United

8/1- Barcelona

14/1- Liverpool

14/1- Manchester City

14/1- Real Madrid

20/1- Leeds

Haaland, the son of former Manchester City player Alf-Inge, has scored 12 and assisted 6 in just 10 Austrian Bundesliga games for Salzburg.

The Austrian Bundesliga is, of course, a massive step-down from the Premier League but Haaland has proved his worth in Europe’s elite competition.

In the Champions League so far, the Norway international has 6 goals in the 3 group games. He scored a sensational Champions League debut hattrick against Genk before coming on as a substitute to score against Liverpool in an agonising 4-3 loss. Haaland scored twice in the following match against Napoli in a 3-2 loss to the Italian giants.

His goalscoring record is impeccable for a 19-year-old and has a similar playing style to Romelu Lukaku. He is strong and has great aerial ability coupled with some nice footwork and finishing.

The wonderkid would thus fit in well at Manchester United and would give heavy competition to both Rashford and Martial.

It would also allow Solskjaer to rest the likes of Rashford who has looked exhausted for some parts of the season.

Haaland is a Norway international but was born in Leeds and has joked about the possibility of returning to his place of birth to play under Marcelo Bielsa.

With his services at only £35m, United would need to be quick to secure the youngster with Europe’s elite already monitoring Haaland’s progress under Jesse Marsch in Salzburg.