Premier League club rejected chance to sign Erling Haaland for £5 million with plan to play him for under-23s

As Erling Haaland’s goalscoring continues to make a mockery of the Premier League’s status as arguably the toughest division in the world, teams around Europe must be tuning in fuelled by envy.

After all, it is no secret that a host of clubs around the continent were keen on the Norwegian international’s signature this summer.

Real Madrid were reported to be Manchester City’s biggest competitors to sign the 22-year-old, considering their failure to wrap up a bid to sign Kylian Mbappe.

Bayern Munich were another European juggernaut that were keeping tabs on the youngster during his time at rivals Borussia Dortmund as the rightful heir to the now-Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski’s throne.

With Paris Saint-Germain coming close to losing Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid in the summer, the club had identified Haaland as the ideal goalscorer up front to replace the electric Frenchman.

Perhaps the only reason why the Ligue 1 giants waved a white flag in their bid to sign the former RB Salzburg talisman is due to Mbappe’s decision to stay put at the Parc des Princes.

While other sides such as Manchester United and Juventus have tried to prise away the Leeds-born marksman in the past, their efforts were rendered futile a few summers ago.

With every club chasing the now-Sky Blues superstar being a definitive part of the European elite, another side that one would not expect to be closing in on his coup almost signed him a few years back.

As per a report by the Daily Mail, Everton were informed that a £5 million fee would be enough to confirm Erling Haaland’s arrival during his time at Molde FK.

However, the Toffees deemed the valuation as ‘too much’ for a player that would be joining their U-23s squad at the time.

At just 22 years of age, Haaland has outscored some of the greatest strikers of all time in his first 100 professional games, such as Romario, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez to name a few.

In the Champions League as well, the Manchester City forward stands as the youngest ever player to reach 25 goals in the competition.

It is safe to say that Everton underestimated the magnificence of Erling Haaland, who would have single-handedly transformed the fortunes of the club at a minuscule fee.

This week, Haaland will look to continue his goalscoring fortunes for Manchester City in the Champions League.

Coming in to a clash against Copenhagen on Wednesday night, the Norway international has scored three consecutive hat-tricks in three consecutive Premier League home games.

The latest of those trebles came against Erik ten Hag's men on Sunday afternoon, in a 6-3 win for Manchester City at the Etihad.