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How Man City signed Erling Haaland from Dortmund: The inside story

At one time or another, every single one of Europe's biggest clubs have harboured hopes of signing Erling Haaland. Some have held face-to-face talks with his representatives. Others, like Real Madrid and Barcelona, laid on tours of their training ground and at one stage, Manchester United believed they were so close to sealing a transfer that they began looking at travel options to bring him to the city.

Along with Kylian Mbappe, Haaland is the most coveted young player in the world -- and was No. 1 in ESPN's 39 players U21 list -- so much so that the pair have been tipped to take over from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the game's dominant global icons.