Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn has revealed that his side did all they could to sign Erling Haaland last summer.
The race to sign the forward was hot last year when it emerged he was going to leave Borussia Dortmund, and he eventually ended up joining Manchester City for an initial £51.2million.
He’s gone onto have a record-breaking season in his first year in England, already breaking the record for the most goals scored in a Premier League season and is helping City challenge for a historic treble.
Haaland has already turned into one of the most lethal strikers in Europe, and looks set to lead the line for City for years to come as they continue to compete at the top level.
Things may have been different, though, if Bayern had the financial power to sign the Norwegian, with Khan revealing via Sport Bild that the club pushed to their ‘financial limits’ to try and secure his signature.
Haaland has already turned into one of the most lethal strikers in Europe, and looks set to lead the line for City for years to come as they continue to compete at the top level.
Things may have been different, though, if Bayern had the financial power to sign the Norwegian, with Khan revealing via Sport Bild that the club pushed to their ‘financial limits’ to try and secure his signature.
Oliver Kahn has revealed that Bayern Munich went to their financial limits to try and sign Erling Haaland last summer
Kahn said Bayern decided against breaking their wage structure to take the forward to Munich
Haaland has gone on to have a record-breaking season in his first year at Manchester City
‘We tried everything for Erling Haaland one year ago and went to our financial limits,’ Kahn said.
‘We had to decide, do we want to break our wage structure? We weren’t ready for that. That’s not Bayern-like.’
Bayern are in hot competition with Haaland’s former side Dortmund to try and win the Bundesliga this season, and are currently one point clear with 31 games played.
The 22-year-old scored twice as City knocked Bayern out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals
They’re enduring a difficult season by their standards, having lost to City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League – when Haaland scored twice against them – and falling short at the same stage in the German Cup, when they lost 2-1 to SC Freiburg.
The club changed manager in March, replacing Julian Nagelsmann with Thomas Tuchel, and are at risk of not winning the German domestic league for the first time in 11 years.
City, meanwhile, seem set to win the Premier League while they will face local rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final next month.
They took a draw from their Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid on Tuesday, and will be favourites to reach the final in the return leg at the Etihad next week, with Haaland at the centre of the side’s charge in the final weeks of the season.