Erling Haaland has underlined his status as the absolute best number nine in world football this summer after taking the USA, Canada and Mexico by storm.
The Manchester City superstar has been on fire at the World Cup, battering Norway into the quarter-finals, where they will not fear England.
Liverpool fans have, of course, long known just how good Haaland is, and to a portion of the fanbase, it remains a mystery why the Reds plucked Takumi Minamino, instead of his Norwegian teammate, when they went shopping at Red Bull Salzburg in 2020.
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But those supporters should listen to Jurgen Klopp, who already explained that signing Haaland was already impossible for the Reds at that point.
Haaland only wanted Borussia Dortmund
Everyone in European football has known how good Haaland could become ever since he scored 28 goals in 22 games for Salzburg during the first half of the 2019/20 campaign, many before even then, during his formative days with Molde.
This included Klopp and Liverpool, who saw him score at Anfield during a visit in the Champions League group stage that season.
Minamino also impressed that evening, leading to Liverpool players reportedly urging Klopp to sign the Japanese, but according to the German manager, it was never a case of Minamino or Haaland, with the big striker having decided he wanted a starting spot at a top team, something Liverpool could not offer.
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Haaland ultimately moved to Dortmund in the same January as Minamino left for Liverpool and hit the ground running. But as Minamino struggled to settle on Merseyside, Klopp said that there was never a possibility to get them both.
“The difference couldn’t be bigger,” he admitted. “Erling Haaland made a perfect choice with Dortmund, and Taki made a perfect choice too.
“Dortmund needed a striker. Everybody blames Man United for not getting him, but we wouldn’t have got him – not that we tried. It’s as easy as that. He wanted a top team, as soon as possible, with an open space – Borussia Dortmund.
“That’s timing. I hope you know how much I love and respect the people at Dortmund, but it’s not that they made a perfect approach and did this and that, it was more they were there, had the space, number nine… ‘Here we go, you are 19 years old, want to play Champions League, top end of Bundesliga, so go for it’.
“Nobody else had a chance, I’m pretty sure, no matter what they say. Taki finds here a completely different situation. That’s normal.”
Two-and-a-half years later, when Haaland joined City, it seemed to be a case of a one-horse race as well. With the 25-year-old tied onto a contract at the Etihad Stadium until 2034, there is no chance he will ever play for Liverpool.
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