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MANCHESTER, England — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted that Manchester United were right to pull the plug on a deal for Erling Haaland despite suffering a striker crisis thanks to an injury to Marcus Rashford.
United are scouring the transfer market for a forward with Rashford set for an extended spell on the sidelines after suffering a stress fracture in his back.
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Haaland was a January target for Solskjaer, only for the teenager to sign for Borussia Dortmund when United refused to agree to certain stipulations set by agent Mino Raiola and his representatives, including inserting a buyout clause into his contract.
Haaland netted a hat trick on his Dortmund debut after coming on as a substitute on 59 minutes, which sparked a comeback from 3-1 down to win 5-3 over Augsburg on Saturday.
“It is important that we use common sense,” Solskjaer said in a news conference on Tuesday ahead of Burnley’s visit to Old Trafford.
“There are other things too when you sign players, that you have to keep in control. You can’t give agents the control by giving buyout clauses and stuff.
“That has been touted around, that is for me, we have to be in control.”
Solskjaer is keen to add a striker to his squad in the remaining days of the January transfer window to compensate for the loss of Rashford, who has scored 19 goals this season.
Edinson Cavani, who has handed in a transfer request at Paris Saint-Germian, Borussia Dortmund’s Paco Alcacer, AC Milan’s Krzysztof Piatek, Napoli’s Dries Mertens, as well as a series of short-term options, have all been discussed but United are running out of time before the deadline while talks with Sporting Lisbon over a deal for midfielder Bruno Fernandes are ongoing.
“We are looking at different scenarios,” Solskjaer added.
“If there are deals to be done we will update you on that. We know that Marcus is out for a few months.
“That will take its toll on the team because we are stretched.”