Former Everton centre forward Duncan Ferguson has revealed the club turned down the chance to sign Erling Haaland.
Haaland arrived in England this summer to much fanfare from Borussia Dortmund and has lived up to his billing as one of the continent’s foremost forward players scoring 22 goals in his first 16 games for Manchester City.
However, history could have been very different according to Ferguson.
Speaking on William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Ferguson revealed: ‘He’s going to be incredible, isn’t he? But believe it or not, I’ll tell you a story, he was in at Everton.
‘His dad (Alf-Inge) 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 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.
‘I’m pretty sure that if his dad brought him to Everton he’d have brought him to Leeds because his dad played for Leeds and Manchester City.
‘I’m pretty sure he would have brought him to a few clubs around that age.’
Haaland has exploded since arriving at City and has been the stand out player across Europe in the initial months of the season.
Everton’s very recent history has been a tale in poor squad management with the many of the signings of the past few years having failed to deliver on the often extortionate fees laid out by the club.
The club are seeking to rectify some of those rather costly errors in judgement under Frank Lampard, with the side having impressed so far this term.
Meanwhile, City continue to sweat over the fitness of the Norwegian Haaland, with the 22-year-old set to miss Wednesday evening’s fixture against Sevilla as a result of the injury sustained last week in Germany.
The club are hoping he will return to the side for the visit of Fulham at the Etihad this weekend.
‘I’m pretty sure that if his dad brought him to Everton he’d have brought him to Leeds because his dad played for Leeds and Manchester City,’ Guardiola said on Tuesday.
‘I’m pretty sure he would have brought him to a few clubs around that age.’
