Haaland, Rice: Solskjaer Names 5 Players He Wanted at Manchester United

• Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is reflecting on his time as Manchester United manager
• His time at the helm of the club will forever be marred by not winning a trophy
• Solskjaer said one of his regrets was failing to land some of his transfer targets

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not a happy man and has suggested his time at Manchester United ended with many regrets, some for things he did and others for things he did not do.

The Norwegian took over when Jose Mourinho was sacked in 2018, first as interim manager, with the deal made permanent after he had impressed in his early weeks.

The decision to appoint Solskjaer permanently was frowned upon by some sections of the fanbase and they turned out to be right, after three years with no trophy despite spending over £400 million.

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Ralf Rangnick managed the rest of the season before Erik ten Hag was appointed as permanent manager, with the Dutch tactician winning a trophy in his first season to end a six-year drought.

Solskjaer admits to transfer regrets

Two high-profile signings made during Solskjaer's time have not gone well - Harry Maguire for £80mil and Jadon Sancho for £73mil. Both players could leave the club in January or by the end of the season.

While speaking to The Athletic in an interview, the Norwegian claimed he had other targets the club could not sign who have gone on to become established stars.

"Erling Haaland, before he made his Salzburg debut. Declan Rice, who wouldn’t have cost what he did in the summer. We discussed Moises Caicedo, but we felt we needed players ready for there and then."

Solskjaer added: "We wanted Jude Bellingham badly - he’s a Man United player, but I respect he chose Dortmund. That was probably sensible."

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Haaland is now at Manchester City, costing the Citizens £51mil last summer, while Bellingham is at Real Madrid for £88.5mil. Rice sealed a £105mil move to Arsenal and Chelsea signed Caicedo for a British record transfer fee of £115mil, as reported by Sky Sports.

Solskjaer also said he wanted to sign Harry Kane but the club could not afford him - for the same reason given this summer before he moved to Bayern Munich.

His successor at United, Rangnick suffered a similar fate. As reported by talkSPORT, he named six players for the club to sign - Haaland, Christopher Nkunku, Josko Gvardiol, Alvaro Morata, Luis Diaz, and Dusan Vlahovic - but got none.

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Sports Brief also reported on Solskjaer regretting Cristiano Ronaldo's signing, saying it was one of the things he did at Man United that he probably shouldn't have.

United double-crossed their rivals, Manchester City, who were on course to secure the Portuguese from Juventus. Fans believe the move led to Solskjaer's axing.