Duncan Ferguson: Everton passed up Erling Haaland signing over a ‘couple of million quid’

Everton legend Duncan Ferguson has told William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ new podcast, No Tippy Tappy Football, that the Toffees had the chance to sign Erling Haaland as a youngster but turned down the opportunity over a “couple of million quid”. 

Speaking to William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ No Tippy Tappy Football, a new series in which Sam Allardyce and host Natalie Pike are joined by a special guest each week to discuss the big stories surrounding the 2022 World Cup and beyond, the former Everton striker discussed the details of the failed move.

“I mean my God, what a phenomenal player Erling Haaland is,” Ferguson said. “He’s going to be incredible, isn’t he? But believe it or not, he was in at Everton. His Dad had brought him in at Everton and they never signed him!

“He was brought in at about 15 or 16 years of age and the team he was with at the time [Bryne] wanted a couple of million quid for him and Everton wouldn’t buy him. Everton didn’t think it was the right move for them at the time…”

Haaland eventually made his way to the Premier League with Manchester City, though reportedly previously rejected advances from Manchester United, with Allardyce claiming the striker would have saved ex-Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his job had he moved to Old Trafford.

“Ole worked with Haaland at Molde, so he rang him up, met him and tried to get him to come to Manchester United when he was manager there,” he said. “But it didn’t happen and then Haaland went to Germany to join Borussia Dortmund [from Red Bull Salzburg].

“I don’t know whether that was financial, or whatever it might be, but I think that, personally, if Ole had got him to join Manchester United then he would still be the manager there today.”

Allardyce: Everton turnaround my ‘easiest situation’

Allardyce and Ferguson went on to chat about the former’s time in charge of Everton, with Allardyce claiming that guiding the club to an eighth-placed finish in 2018 was “the easiest situation” his team had experienced in management. Allardyce departed the club at the end of that season.

“I have to say, in terms of turning things around, and nothing’s ever easy in these situations, but it was the easiest situation we had,” he said. “We shot up that league relatively quickly and ultimately, I was very, very proud at the end of that season that we finished eighth. In all fairness, we were all looking at each other saying, you know, how did we do that?”

Allardyce added: “I really couldn’t believe the opportunity I had to go all the way with Everton. And it was the first time I had the chance to do that since I think probably rebuilding Newcastle – which I didn’t get the time to do because of a change of ownership. This was a rebuilding job at Everton to take them to a new stadium. But unfortunately, because of the politics of the club, that didn’t end up being the case.

“I knew all about what a great club Everton were and I just wanted the opportunity and for the first time having big money to spend, I’d never had that in my life. So big money would have been ideal, but you know, these things happen and you move on.”

Ferguson, who worked as a coach under Allardyce at Everton, believes the manager should have been kept on by the club.

“Sam did a great job really to get the club in a good position,” he said. “He was really unfortunate to lose his job and he shouldn’t have lost his job. I’ve been a big backer of Sam for some time and we’ve always got on well.”

Ferguson added: “What I loved about Sam was that he was straight. He’s a straight fella, a straight talker and tactically very good. He knew his gameplan and communicated that with the players and we went and executed it. He knew exactly what he wanted. He communicated that with the players, the players liked him as well, they loved him. I think that’s an important part of being a manager.

“There was no ‘BS’ with him and that’s what I liked. He was straight and the players liked that as well because they performed, didn’t they?”

Ferguson: Carlo Ancelotti and I went on holiday together!

Ferguson also coached under Carlo Ancelotti during the Italian’s time as Everton manager and he says the pair are still close from their time spent together.

“Carlo was great and was really good with the players too,” he said. “Tactically everybody loved him and I got on really well with him to be fair. I got on so well with him to the point that we actually went on holiday together!

“I went to Croatia on holiday and he phones me up to ask where I am and I tell him I’m on holiday in Croatia. He says he’s coming and the next minute Carlo’s coming over the horizon on this boat – it was like a movie!

“He actually invited me a few weeks ago to go and watch Real Madrid training and then he let me stay at his house for a few days after. He’s a big supporter of mine and I thank him for that.”